


the water is getting colder

by Lise



Series: Remember This Cold [57]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Established Relationship, Hurt Loki, Hurt Steve Rogers, Imprisonment, Injury, M/M, POV Steve Rogers, Post-Civil War (Marvel), Pre-Thor: Ragnarok (2017), Torture, coming back to some old plot points, definitely I am forgetting some relevant tags, generally not nice stuff happening
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-25
Updated: 2017-03-25
Packaged: 2018-10-10 14:11:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 23,358
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10439427
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lise/pseuds/Lise
Summary: Some old enemies come back to haunt Steve and Loki. This time, they're going to have to save each other.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This fic does serve a purpose other than "getting to beat up both Steve and Loki in one fic." A few purposes, actually. But it's also, you know, that. 
> 
> The most relevant background reading for this fic in terms of immediate goings-on is [This Is My Kingdom Come](https://archiveofourown.org/works/2627453) and [don't care if heaven won't take me back](https://archiveofourown.org/works/8868106), but really it'd be good to have more background than that if you're up for it and not daunted by a verse approaching 60 installments. 
> 
> It is possible that I am already working on an alternate POV for this fic. 
> 
> A couple thanks owed, here: to [Lena](http://portraitoftheoddity.tumblr.com), who gives me so many great ideas, and to [Amelia](http://ameliarating.tumblr.com), who not only betas for me but also sends me validating comments when I ask her for them. And to you, my readers. You're great. 
> 
> If you're here, you probably already know about my [Tumblr](http://veliseraptor.tumblr.com) but you can go there for some [bonus content](http://veliseraptor.tumblr.com/tagged/remember-this-cold) along with a shit ton of other stuff.

Steve was running, running from something he couldn’t quite make out, when Loki’s voice reached him in his dream. “Steve,” he said, quiet but urgent. “Wake up.” 

He jerked into consciousness like he’d been shocked, inhaling sharply. There was a hand over his mouth and for a moment panic kicked up. “It’s me,” Loki said. His voice was hardly even a whisper. “I didn’t want you to cry out. Someone is here.”

Steve’s stomach dropped and his heart started racing. He tapped Loki’s wrist and Loki pulled his hand away. “Here?” He whispered. 

“In the apartment.” Even barely audible, Steve could hear the tension in Loki’s voice. “I just woke a moment ago. I don’t know who they are or how long they’ve been here.” 

_Ross,_ was Steve’s first thought, but he couldn’t have already found them _and_ found a way to get past Wakanda’s defenses - unless someone had ratted them out. T’Challa had assured them no one would, but-

Loki eased away from him. “Do you have any weapons nearby,” he asked, still barely audible. 

Steve swallowed. “No. Can you tell how many?”

Loki shook his head silently, moving toward the door. Steve could see a knife in one of his hands. He rolled out of bed himself. Straining his ears, he could just hear movement on the other side of the door. But no voices.

The door opened a crack and Steve heard something hit the ground and roll. _Grenade,_ he thought automatically, and lunged for Loki to pull him back. “Get down-”

Something _clicked_ and the air was gone. It was like his old asthma back with a vengeance; he gasped as his chest seized up and he couldn’t breathe, his knees buckling. Loki lurched toward him, eyes wide and panicked; black spots started to swim in front of Steve’s eyes. 

His lungs filled suddenly, almost painfully, and Steve fought the dizziness to push himself up. There were three - no, four people through the door. Steve hauled one back from Loki, putting them in a choke hold. Another raised something like a gun and fired. Pain seared along Steve’s shoulder and he let out a sharp sound of pain.

“Steve!” Loki said, and he heard the sound of someone choking on blood as Loki tore free of one of his opponents. Someone shouted something in a language Steve didn’t know. It was still dark, and he struggled to get a look at their attackers but they all seemed to be wearing some kind of a mask.

There were just too many of them. Too many and Steve didn’t have a weapon, should have asked Loki for a knife-

Something hit him in the back of the head. Steve’s skull rang like a bell and he reeled but didn’t fall, lashing out, but the second blow took him in the temple and he blacked out. 

* * *

Steve climbed gradually out of unconsciousness, his head feeling like an egg cracked on the edge of a bowl. His stomach rolled with nausea and his blurry eyesight took too long to clarify. It had been a long time since he’d had to deal with a concussion, but he remembered how it felt. _I’m in the infirmary at the Tower,_ he thought, but no, he’d been in Wakanda…

The memory of the attack trickled back more slowly, along with the realization that he was still wearing what he’d had on going to sleep: a t-shirt and briefs, nothing more. 

That jarred him a little out of his confusion. _Loki,_ he thought with sudden fear, and lifted his head, only to close his eyes with an involuntary noise when the world spun wildly. 

“Steve?”

He kept his eyes closed, but there was still relief in hearing Loki’s voice. “Yep,” he managed, swallowing a couple times to quell his nausea. He heard Loki exhale loudly. 

“I was afraid they had killed you without realizing.” 

“Just…just a nasty headache.” He tried opening his eyes again, moving slowly. “Are you…”

“Fine,” Loki said, a little too quickly. Steve pushed himself slowly to hands and knees and looked around. Loki was sitting a few feet away, his knees drawn up and his back against the wall of what must be their cell. It didn’t look like any prison Steve had ever seen – more like some kind of cave, but there was no visible mouth and some sort of light – thankfully dim – fixed to the low ceiling. 

Steve moved cautiously toward Loki, only now becoming aware of the general aches in the rest of his body. the kind that only came with a beating. Normal human soldiers, he thought, shouldn’t be able to inflict this kind of damage on him. What was Ross playing at? 

“Don’t get too close,” Loki said sharply. Steve stilled. 

“What? Why?” 

Loki glanced toward him. “There is some sort of spell. It is why I couldn’t help you. It’ll make you sick if we get too close to each other.” His lips twisted, and he made a sort of coughing laugh. “Well. One of the reasons I couldn’t help you.” 

Steve frowned. “What do you mean?” 

Loki raised his hands, and Steve realized that they were manacled together. Gold engraved with runes that looked vaguely familiar. “They came prepared.” 

Steve swallowed hard, his stomach turning for a different reason. “Who’s ‘they’? You know-”

“That is the interesting thing,” Loki murmured. “These are Aesir make. But our attackers in Wakanda were not Aesir.” 

A chill ran down Steve’s spine. “This is something to do with _Asgard?_ ”

“That is what is strange,” Loki said. “In Wakanda – that was the Svartalfar. The Dark Elves.” 

“So - what are you saying?” Steve was having a hard time focusing. Turning his head still made the world spin and his stomach lurch. Loki was silent, his jaw shifting, and Steve’s heart thudded. “Loki, tell me.” 

“I have not heard word from Asgard in months,” he said. “Thor...Thor should have been back by now. I tried to reach Frigga’s dreams and I could not. I tried to-” He hesitated, then glanced away. “I went worldwalking, to see if...but the paths that should lead to Asgard had gone dark.” 

Steve’s eyes widened and he sucked in a breath. “Why didn’t you say something?” 

“The last...was only recently. I did not know what you could do, and I thought you had enough to worry about.” Loki’s eyes dropped. “I did not know what _I_ could do. I thought perhaps - initially I thought it was just that they were ignoring me. But I do not know what power could close the paths between worlds entirely.” There was a flicker of something in Loki’s eyes, though, that suggested he _did_ know. Or feared. 

“You think - someone’s attacked Asgard,” Steve said, remembering at the last second not to say the name.

Loki swallowed. “I fear that someone has. Perhaps allied with the Svartalfar. They would gladly join any enterprise to topple Asgard.” 

Steve felt a sudden chill. He’d worried about Thor, of course. But somewhere he’d figured that he’d just gotten tied up in crown business - he knew Odin wanted Thor to stay on Asgard, and maybe he’d figured out some way of delaying Thor’s departure. He hadn’t mentioned it to Loki, not wanting to set _him_ off, and apparently Loki had been thinking the same thing. And so they had no way of knowing how long it had been.

And that Asgard was cut off entirely…

Steve bowed his head forward, eyes closed, and focused on breathing, trying to overcome the nausea and near panic fluttering in his chest. “Okay,” he said, voice hoarse. “So - so-”

But what was there he could _say?_ He made himself look back over toward Loki, who was holding unnaturally still. If this _was_ a move from Thanos…

“Loki,” Steve said quietly. “This might not...it could be something else.”

“I should have been ready,” Loki said, almost inaudible. “I should have been _prepared_ for something like this.”

“Not just you.” Steve wished he could move toward Loki. Could offer something other than words. He glanced slowly around, looking for cameras, but if this was some kind of alien prison...would he even know what he was looking at? “We’re going to get out of this.” 

“If he...if someone claims my mind,” Loki started to say, and Steve opened his mouth to cut that off but Loki stopped himself, turning his head suddenly. The new angle provided Steve a view of the blood dried on Loki’s face, and he felt himself flinch. “Someone’s coming,” he said, shifting. “Move back. Stay still.” 

Steve scooted carefully back, trying not to jar his head. Straining his ears, he could just make out a sound that resolved into footsteps a moment later. The door did not so much open as a panel seemed to slide out of the wall, though there was still very little light. Just enough to make out the two people who came in – their captors, Steve presumed. 

Their masks were white with black circles for eyes - for a moment Steve mistook them for their faces, before he made sense of what he was seeing. It was impossible to read their expressions. “This should kill Jotnar as well as it does Aesir,” said one, lifting the weapon he was holding. “I would be happy to test that.”

The other yanked Steve to his feet, and jerked his arms back, binding his hand. He almost threw up but managed to hold it back, even if he swore he could feel his brain banging around in his skull with every movement. He hadn’t had it this bad in a long while. 

Loki bared his teeth, the expression nearly feral even if he was still breathing hard. “If you _touch_ him I will tear this ship apart.” _Ship?_ Steve thought. He wouldn’t have guessed. _Space_ ship, he assumed. 

He was on a spaceship. Steve might’ve laughed if the situation weren’t...this.

“Don’t make threats you cannot keep,” said the one holding Steve. He tried to twist, but their grip just clamped down harder. “Someone just wants to meet your beloved, Laufeyson. That is your name now, isn’t it?”

Loki’s eyes blazed and he snarled. “All of you talk this much or are you just particularly chatty,” Steve said flatly. The Dark Elf holding him hauled his arms back until Steve’s shoulders strained. 

“We can be done talking,” it said, and jerked him toward the opening its partner was guarding. 

“Steve,” Loki said, a taut, urgent note in his voice, but the other Dark Elf moved its weapon and fired. 

Steve shouted, heart leaping into his throat, but it hadn’t been a kill shot. Still, Loki was curled inward and Steve could smell burnt flesh. His stomach lurched and he gave up and vomited, horror and fear tangled together, his head and heart pounding in counterpoint. 

“Come,” one of them said, sounding disgusted, and jerked Steve away without waiting for him to catch his breath. 

It was hopelessly dark. Steve probably couldn’t have kept track of the directions even if it weren’t for the concussion, and the Dark Elves didn’t seem to be minding his limitations, dragging him along heedless of his stumbles on unexpected irregularities in the ground. Maybe not a ship like Loki had said, Steve processed slowly. Some kind of cave after all? He needed to shake this damn _headache_ fast so he could _think_ properly. 

His two guards were talking rapidly to each other in some kind of flowing language that must be their own - what he’d heard before must’ve been the All Tongue. They both sounded annoyed and Steve wondered if he should try to take advantage of that to break free, but he didn’t know where he would go. Leaving without Loki wasn’t an option.

And if he was being taken to meet Thanos? Steve tried to keep his breathing even even as his blood went cold. If Thanos _did_ something to him, like Loki was afraid of-

They stopped in front of the first real door he’d seen, into some kind of structure he could only barely make out. His guards exchanged a few words, and then whistled three sharp notes.

The door opened and Steve closed his eyes at the sudden flood of light. Someone shoved him forward and the door closed behind him. “Steve Rogers,” said a voice that sounded vaguely familiar, thick with disdain. “ _Captain America._ ”

Steve opened his eyes slowly. He was standing in some kind of circular room, this one illuminated not by the dim glow of their cell but something brighter. There was a bench of some kind, covered in furs, and a single chair in the center. Steve focused on the sole occupant of what looked more like a cell than an interrogation room. 

He recognized him almost immediately. Red hair gone grey at the temples - more grey than the last time Steve had seen him, just as his face looked considerably more haggard. He stiffened, but on the other hand there was almost a rush of relief. _Not Thanos_. “Njörd, right?” He said coldly. Refusing to sit even if he felt woozy and sick. “I remember you.”

Njörd’s lip curled. “As I did you. Sticking your nose where it did not belong. I knew you were a fool, but I did not know how much.”

Steve raised his chin, hoping he looked steadier than he felt. “So now you’re locked up by the Dark Elves? I thought Asgard was supposed to have defeated them.” 

“I am no prisoner,” Njörd snapped predictably. “I work with these rabble because I must.”

“Might not want to say that too loudly,” Steve said. Njörd moved, fast like Loki did sometimes, and backhanded Steve across the face. 

The impact rocked Steve sideways and he just barely kept his feet. “Mind how you talk to your betters,” he said, while Steve was still shaking it off. “I have some mind to be merciful, considering the weakness of Midgardians. Loki is a skilled deceiver, and from what I hear you would not be the first to be seduced by his wiles.” 

Steve could feel his expression get stonier. “I’m starting to get really sick of people assuming I’m some kind of sap,” he said coolly. “Seems to me if anyone got fooled it was you. Your whole big scheme backfiring. And now you’re lurking in caves. Did they kick you out for treason or just generally being an asshole?”

Njörd’s jaw tightened. “As I said, if you tell me what I wish to know I may see fit to release you back to Midgard.” 

Steve raised his chin. “And if I don’t?” 

“It seems you have attracted some attention, Steve Rogers, from the greater universe,” Njörd said. “Your name is being bandied about by some…dangerous people, and I might gain a great deal by handing you to them.” 

A chill ran down Steve’s spine. He kept his face carefully blank despite the sudden nervous thud of his heart. “That so,” he said. Njörd stared at him for a long moment, eyes narrowed, and then turned away. 

“Do you know what your lover has done?” He asked, voice calmer. Steve forced himself not to tense, feeling guilty for even the brief flash of doubt.

“I’m guessing you’re going to tell me,” he said. 

Njörd sneered. “He should have been killed, as I proposed. Not let loose to spread his venom further. For see what has come of it. Asgard attacked. Asgard _fallen._ ” Steve inhaled sharply before he could control himself. Even after what Loki had said, his fears… _Thor._ He pushed that away, but Njörd’s gaze was triumphant. “You see?”

“How do you know it has anything to do with Loki?” Steve managed to say. “Asgard has plenty of enemies.”

“I know it,” Njörd snapped. “Who else would be able to give the invaders the secret entrances to the city, to the palace itself? Who else would have told them how to disable her defenses?”

“What invaders?” Steve asked, taking a half step forward. “Who-”

Njörd struck him again, and this time he did stumble, falling to one knee. “You do not ask questions of me,” he said loudly. “That you did not know of your snake’s machinations will gain you a little mercy, but that will not last if you displease me or attempt to defend him.”

“You haven’t said what you want from me,” Steve said. He licked his lips and tasted blood where his lip had split. He tried testing the bonds holding him, but didn’t get anywhere. He supposed if they had materials strong enough to hold the Aesir, he shouldn’t be surprised he wasn’t having any luck. “Don’t know how I’m supposed to cooperate when I don’t know with what.”

Njörd stepped back and moved away from Steve, turning his back. If Steve could rush him, knock him down…

There wasn’t much he could do without his hands, though, not when Njörd was unquestionably stronger than him. And he didn’t sound like he was going to kill him or Loki, at least not immediately. 

“What do you know about the Infinity Stones,” Njörd asked, and Steve froze. “The what?” He said, managing not to swallow. Njörd turned, his eyes narrowed. 

“So you have heard the name, at least.” 

Steve managed to meet Njörd’s eyes, trying to remember everything Loki had said. Enough that he knew he didn’t want to give any information to this man. “Heard it somewhere. Maybe Thor mentioned it?” 

Njörd took a step toward him, nostrils flaring. “Do not lie to me. I do not know what those who seek you want you for, but I doubt they need you whole.” 

Steve didn’t let himself flinch. “Why do you want to know?” 

This time it was a hand around his throat, squeezing just hard enough to threaten. “Have you already forgotten,” he started to say, but this time Steve moved, twisting to drive one knee into Njörd’s crotch. Njörd dropped him with a bark of pain, stumbling back, but Steve regained his feet quickly. Bent not quite double, Njörd’s face twisted with fury. 

“Svartalfar!” He snapped. The door opened behind Steve and one glided in, expression unreadable even without one of those strange masks. 

“Yes?” They said, sounding bored. Steve moved so he could see them both at once, trying again to free his hands. 

“Remove this – this _sansorðinn_ from my sight.” He stared at Steve, and he stared back, meeting that hate-filled stare evenly even if a chill crawled down his spine. Maybe that had been stupid. “You have lost your chance at mercy, Steve Rogers. I suggest you think on the wisdom of clinging to your foolish choice of loyalties. Next time we meet I will not be so _kind._ ”

“Looking forward to it,” Steve said through clenched teeth, as the Dark Elf dragged him to his feet, his friend holding one of those weapons they’d shot at Loki to his head. 

“Come,” one of them said, tone vaguely like he was calling a dog, and dragged Steve back out of the room. 

His jaw still ached where Njörd had struck him, and his neck didn’t feel fantastic either. “Why are you working for him?” He asked, when they’d made some distance. “I thought you hated the Aesir.” Neither spoke, their faces remaining expressionless. “You have to know he’s just using you,” Steve tried. Oddly, one of them laughed, and said something to the other in their language. He wished he had Loki’s gift for languages. 

“He is right about one thing,” the other said. “You ask too many questions.” 

And with that, they fell silent, seemingly unwilling to say anything more. 

* * *

They unbound his hands before shoving him back into the cell, the door closing before he could turn around. As far as Steve could tell, it was solid rock – he couldn’t see a single gap in it. Loki, though, was on his feet, looking wild-eyed. “Steve,” he said, voice urgent, and took two sharp steps toward him before making a choking sound and stopping, looking like he wanted to vomit. 

“Your shoulder,” Steve said. 

“Fine,” Loki said. Nothing more than – a warning.” He looked pale, though, and Steve remembered the burnt flesh smell, though it seemed to have faded. Unlike the smell of vomit. He tried to take his own step toward Loki and felt like his stomach was trying to turn inside out. “Are you-“

Frustration and anger welled up. He couldn’t look at Loki’s wound, couldn’t find his own comfort in Loki’s arm around his shoulders, reassurance that he wasn’t on his own. “Bruised,” he said, “but fine. Loki…I know who’s behind this. It’s Njörd. He’s working with the Dark Elves.” 

Loki jerked. “Njörd? Of all I would expect to ally with _Asgard’s enemies,_ him I would think least likely.” Loki’s eyes widened a hair. “Is this – for _revenge?_ For your thwarting his intentions?” 

“I think he’s been…thrown out. Or maybe left himself.” Steve paused momentarily debating whether to tell Loki the rest, but…he couldn’t keep secrets. Not now, and not here. “Loki…he said that Asgard was invaded. That it’s fallen.” 

Steve heard Loki’s breath catch, his barely breathed “ _no._ ” Whatever Loki might try to pretend…he was still tied to Asgard, if by nothing else than Thor and Frigga. Loki licked his lips. “Fallen. You are sure? Perhaps he was lying. Or trying to…” But he trailed off. Steve could tell he didn’t believe his own words. “Who?”

“He didn’t say,” Steve said. 

Loki bit his lip. “And…what of…did he say what had become of Thor?” 

Steve shook his head slowly. “I’m sorry,” he said heavily. Loki seemed to be holding very still, and Steve added quickly, “Thor’s strong. He wouldn’t let himself be beat.” 

“Thor is also – a _fool_ quick to leap into fights he cannot win.” ButLoki bowed his head for a moment, eyes closed, and nodded. “He is – no longer so reckless as he was. And he has his friends. Sif, and Volstagg, and the others. And Frigga – she is clever, and has not forgotten that she was once a shieldmaiden. Asgard fallen does not mean…” 

He trailed off again. 

“He thinks it’s your doing,” Steve said. “That you – planned it, somehow. And…” He hesitated again, and lowered his voice, mindful of listening ears. “He asked about the Infinity Stones.”

Loki twitched again. “What did he think you would know of them,” he said flatly. Steve only hesitated a moment. 

“I thought I heard the name at some point,” he said. “Something dangerous. Powerful.” 

Loki turned a bleak gaze on Steve. “Powerful,” he agreed. “And not something to fall into the hands of…untrustworthy folk.”

“I know.” So they shouldn’t talk openly about the Infinity Stones. Steve got that, at least, but the only one he knew the location of for sure…he’d assumed the others were in Asgard, but that had only been an assumption. “Do you think…who could it be? Who attacked Asgard?” 

“Asgard does not lack for enemies.” Loki moved back from Steve. He rubbed his jaw, he hoped surreptitiously. “Not the Svartalfar, plainly. There are…factions in Vanaheim that have agitated for independence, though most still remember the Aesir-Vanir War too clearly for that movement to grow. The other Realms would not be so foolish as to try.”

“So you think…this could be – our enemy?”

“Maybe,” Loki said after a moment. His voice did not quite tremble, but it was a near thing. “If it is…” He trailed off, and murmured, “I wonder whose game Njörd is really playing.”

Steve’s blood went cold for a moment. _If he’s being controlled…_

All the more reason to keep their mouths shut about the Infinity Stones.

“But none of that answers what he wants with you,” Loki said. Steve shook his head, after a moment’s pause. He didn’t want to tell Loki what Njörd had said about someone asking for him – not yet. It would only push Loki over into panic. 

“I don’t know,” he said, telling himself it was a half truth. He didn’t know _who,_ after all, or _why._ “Maybe it’s like you said. Revenge for the role I played in humiliating him. Or maybe he thinks I’ll – I’ll be leverage. On you.” Loki’s silence confirmed what Steve already knew: that it wasn’t untrue. He _would_ be. If Njörd tried to hurt him…

( _And what if he uses Loki against you?_ Loki was the one he hated, after all. What would Steve do to spare Loki pain? Himself…he could take torture. But…

Apparently the same thought had crossed Loki’s mind. “Do not give him anything,” he said flatly. “Nothing that he wants. He may be a fool but he is a dangerous one.” 

“Are you going to promise the same thing?” Steve asked. Loki was quiet for a split second before he flashed a sharp smile.

“I can lie,” he said. “You cannot.”

Steve didn’t ask if they should be hoping for rescue. Wherever they were…he didn’t think that anyone was coming. 

They were on their own.

* * *

They were left alone for a long while. It was hard to tell exactly how long – the lights stayed dim, and however hard he tried Steve couldn’t hear any sound from outside – but hunger gnawed at Steve’s stomach. He tried to think how they could get away, possible means of escape, but he couldn’t even see the seams on the door out of their cell. 

He tried to get over to Loki so he could try to find a way to remove the collar and shackles, but before he could even get in arm’s length he was doubled over with his stomach cramping, struggling for air until Loki moved away. 

“Don’t,” he said hoarsely. “Don’t try it, Steve. I can’t be certain it wouldn’t kill you if you push it far enough.” But Steve could see Loki’s hands going to the collar and pulling at it, seemingly barely aware of what he was doing.

If that made his chest ache, though, it was nothing to when the Dark Elves returned and took Loki away. 

“It’ll go easier if you don’t fight,” one of them said, though something about the tone in his voice sounded as though he hoped Loki would. “This time we might shoot your lover. See if he could endure it as well as you did.” 

“Where are you taking him,” Steve demanded. They looked at him almost in unison. One of them said something to the other that made him – her? Steve realized he couldn’t tell the difference – laugh. Apparently Loki understood it, because he snarled, murder flashing briefly across his face. 

“Call him that again and I will make you wish the darkness never spawned you,” he said. They looked at Loki.

“Keep threatening,” one of them said finally, coolly. “The Aesir may have his uses for you for now but he has not said we cannot have our own fun. With either of you.” 

Loki’s eyes flicked to Steve briefly and he went with them. Steve’s heart pounded and his stomach was in knots waiting. His fingers flickered to where his ring should be, and wasn’t. He felt stupidly like if he just had _that_ he’d be able to believe Loki would come back in one piece. 

_Njörd needs him,_ Steve told himself. _Needs Loki to tell him things. And Loki’s…_ Awful though it might be to think, Loki had been through torture before. 

Just…Njörd’s temper seemed volatile. Unpredictable. And Loki wasn’t exactly prone to trying to deescalate dangerous situations. And what if he made some kind of bargain to get Steve loose, sacrificed himself-

 _I am not so desperate as that, nor in such a hurry to leave you,_ Loki had said, but he might just be stupid enough to think it was a worthwhile bargain. 

Steel bands constricted around his chest, squeezing his ribs, and Steve tried to focus on breathing deeply. He jumped to his feet when he heard approaching footsteps, backing away from the door as his heart leapt into his throat, but they pushed Loki inside and closed the door. Loki dropped to his knees, one arm wrapped around his ribs. Steve jerked toward him before he remembered. 

“Loki?” He said worriedly, but the worst of the fear was gone just for seeing him back. 

“I think – mmm – I think they may blame me for Malekith’s failure,” Loki said, and laughed weakly. “It is a difficult thing to say whether they or Njörd like me less. Or whether they like Njörd less than me.” 

Steve exhaled loudly. “Are you…all right?” 

“A few bruises only, and a lot of dark and vague promises,” Loki said. “I think he expected me to cave the first time he suggested torture. He clearly knows nothing about me.” This time his laugh was vaguely hysterical, and Steve shifted uneasily, suddenly wondering if Loki was lying. 

“That’s all?” He said. 

“He dug up a Svartalfar mage from somewhere,” Loki said after a moment. “She tried to pry into my brain. It did not work out.” 

Steve licked his lips nervously. Is that…will he try that…”

“On you? No.” Loki sounded faintly satisfied. “Even if Svartalfar had any experience with human minds – they do not – she is dead now.” Steve blinked, and Loki smiled faintly. “You do not think all that work with Ms. Maximoff had no results? The wards I use now do not require maintaining, and have a nasty backlash.” 

Steve wished he felt a little more sympathy for the nameless Dark Elf mage, but he couldn’t quite work it up. And he was relieved, both for Loki’s sake and his own. He knew too much – not just about the Infinity Stones, but if Njörd took it into his mind that he should try to gain a strategic advantage before taking Asgard back…apparently Earth made a good tactical position. 

“This isn’t over,” Loki said after a few moments of silence. “Njörd may be a fool but he is a stubborn fool. And he does not forget a slight. Rumor has it that he had a rival killed nearly a century after he’d married the woman they were both courting. The man had apparently insulted his prowess as a lover. No one could prove anything, of course, but…”

Steve felt a chill down his spine. “The more I hear about this fella the more he sounds like a real stand-up guy,” he said dryly. That won a faint laugh. He dropped his voice to a whisper. “That collar and shackles – the stuff binding your magic. Could I get it off you, if I could touch it?” 

“Unfortunately, no,” Loki said, equally quietly. “It requires a key. I am not certain if the Elves or Njörd have it.” His fingers rose toward the collar and then pulled away. 

“We’re going to get out of here,” Steve said, trying to sound more certain of that than he felt. Unwillingly, he thought of the others, wondering what was happening with them. Bucky must be going out of his mind. And Sam, and poor Wanda…at least Pietro would look after her.

No. He needed to keep his focus on the here and now. And maybe Loki was wrong, and Thor would show up on Midgard and be able to help…but he couldn’t count on that. 

“Steve,” Loki said, his words slightly blurry. “I need to…dealing with the Svartalf _völva…_ took a great deal of energy. I need to…

“Rest,” Steve said quickly. “I’ll watch. And wake you up if I hear anyone coming.”

He listened to Loki’s breathing slow and even and hoped he’d sleep soundly. There was never any guarantee, but they would both need their rest. Steve was trying not to feel dread sinking deep into his stomach, but it was hard to hold it off. 

_We’ve been in sticky situations before,_ Steve reminded himself. _And always found our way out. We’ll do it this time, too._

A nasty voice in the back of his brain whispered _if Njörd starts making you watch Loki be tortured, how well are you going to hold out saying nothing? Do you really think you can watch him suffer and not say anything?_

For that matter, could Loki?

* * *

Loki slept restlessly, twitching and whimpering under his breath. Worse than usual, though Steve supposed that wasn’t surprising. He was torn between raising his voice to wake Loki and just letting him sleep through the bad dreams: any kind of rest was better than none, right?

Before he could make up his mind, Loki woke up on his own, gasping and shuddering. “Loki?” Steve said quietly. 

“I should know better than to think I’d find much rest in these conditions,” Loki said after a moment. His voice shook slightly, but it steadied in the next words. “How long…”

Steve jerked his thoughts away from questions about what Loki might have been dreaming about. There was just too little he could do, at least right now. “I’m not sure. A couple of hours, maybe?” Steve’s stomach was starting to remind him again that it had been a while since he’d last eaten. He wondered if their captors had thought of that. They’d kindly provided a bucket, but maybe they weren’t aware that humans needed a little more maintenance than other beings seemed to.

Though he wondered if he wanted to know what Dark Elves ate. 

“Better than I would have thought,” Loki said, sitting up and stretching. Steve heard something pop and almost winced, wondering unwillingly if they’d done more than Loki had said. “Your presence _is_ a talisman against nightmares, it seems.” His smile was faint, but Steve tried to return it. 

“You think they’re going to bring us breakfast anytime soon?” He asked. Turning toward where the door had opened and raising his voice, he said, “I’d like a poached egg on toast, if you’re taking orders!” 

Loki’s faint chuckle was a fair reward. “If we’re putting in requests – how about some breakfast sausage and French toast?” he said. Steve laughed a little too loudly, trying to cover the way his stomach growled. 

“Lousy hosts,” he said. “You’d think their mothers never taught them any better.”

Loki’s smile had a sharp edge to it. “Someone ought to teach them manners.”

The door opened. Once again Steve tried to see the seams in the rock even as he tensed, worried one or both of them were about to be punished for what they’d been saying. The elves that entered certainly weren’t carrying food. Four, this time. Loki had pushed himself to his feet already. 

“More of you than before,” he said, eyes flicking back and forth among them. “Are you afraid of us? Him a mortal, and me in chains?” 

“The Svartalfar are not so foolish as to underestimate you twice, Loki of Jotunheim,” one of them said, the words somehow pointed. Loki flinched and looked like he wanted to lash out at the same time. Steve barely managed to make his feet before one of the elves had his hands locked behind his back. Steve’s jaw clenched but he managed to shove down the instinct to attack. They needed more of a plan than just ‘punch their way out.’ 

“It seems you’re both wanted,” another one said. They hefted a weapon and pointed it at Loki. “Do we need to shoot you again or will you come quietly this time?” 

Loki’s lips twisted with contempt. “I had thought the Svartalfar at least more proud than to serve as lackeys to an Aesir castoff.” 

The one holding the weapon paused, looking at Loki, then moved fast and cracked the end of it into Steve’s face. His nose didn’t quite break but he shouted in surprised pain; he heard Loki snarl and when the white cleared from his vision the grip of two of their guards was just barely holding him back, bound hands or no. 

“He is more fragile than you are,” the one with the weapon said coolly. “The next strike will be to his throat.” 

Loki’s jaw flexed but Steve saw him relax. His eyes went to Steve’s and he thought he could see apology in them. _It’s fine,_ Steve tried to communicate in return, but he wasn’t sure the message made it across. 

Their guard – two on Loki, and an equal number on Steve; he could almost be flattered – marched them down a different hallway than they’d taken yesterday. Steve tried not to wonder what Njörd would want both of them for. None of the answers were very pleasant. 

Njörd was already there when they were led in. His eyes slid over Steve to Loki and then back to Steve. Loki’s expression was one of studied, perfect boredom. Looking back and forth between the two of them, Njörd smiled faintly. 

“Good,” he said. “You are here. Now let’s not delay.”

“Delay in what,” Steve said, since Loki wasn’t saying anything, just staring at Njörd with that bored, indifferent expression. 

Njörd waved a hand, his eyes fixing on Loki with that faint, satisfied smile that made Steve’s skin crawl. “Prepare them,” he said, apparently to their escort. 

The Dark Elves glanced at one another and had a brief conversation in their language – what Steve wouldn’t give to understand what they were saying, though judging by the way Loki’s head cocked to the side he was listening – before obeying, two of them dragging Steve back toward the wall. 

“Hey!” Steve said, lashing out with his elbow without thinking and digging in his heels. “Answer me-“

Something struck him in the ribs, knocking the air out of his lungs, but even as he gasped they followed it with some kind of shock that made his muscles all turn to water. By the time he could breathe again – sort of - he was already strung up so he could barely touch the ground with his feet. 

Loki, he saw with a jolt, hadn’t fared any better – and there was nothing Steve liked about his position, stretched out facedown on some sort of stone table, ankles and arms locked in place so his shoulders were clearly strained beyond the comfortable.

Njörd strolled between them and looked Steve in the eye. “I simply have some questions to ask,” he said. “If this creature should answer honestly…there will be no need for any difficulty.” 

“What if you don’t like the honest answer,” Steve said flatly. “Still going to be happy then?” 

Njörd turned away, back toward Loki. “What do you know of the attack on Asgard?” He asked. 

“As I told you already, probably less than you,” Loki said. Steve wished he would put a little more feeling in his voice, though he supposed it probably wouldn’t change anything. 

“How did you organize the breach in our defenses?” 

Loki’s eyebrows lifted. “Is it really ‘our’ anymore? I doubt they would take you back even if you hadn’t made your…dubious choice of companions.” 

Njörd’s expression tightened. “Answer the question.”

“I have. I have had no contact with Asgard since my exile. As I swore, you may recall, on pain of death. _I_ am not so foolish as to seek to challenge the All-Father.”

Hand snapping out, Njörd grabbed Loki’s chin and wrenched his head to the side. “And what is a broken oath to your ilk? Tell me how-”

“He doesn’t know,” Steve interrupted. “What’s the point in asking questions if you’re just going to deny the answers when they don’t fit the story you want?” 

“Perhaps he hopes I will change my answers if he bores me enough,” Loki said. Njörd moved fast, grabbing a handful of Loki’s hair and cracking his head against the stone. Steve sucked in a breath, jerking forward reflexively only to be brought up short. His guards had moved away, leaning back against the wall in one corner and watching with apparent indifference.

“If you will not tell me of Asgard,” Njörd said, a newly harsh edge on his voice, “then tell me of something else. The weapons that can be used for her defense. Where are the Infinity Stones?” 

Loki barked a laugh. “Your guess is as good as mine. If I knew, do you not think _I_ would have sought them out?” 

“You did,” Njörd said coldly. “The Tesseract-”

“Was brought back to Asgard, in my memory. Unless the All-Father lost it?”

For a moment Steve thought Njörd was going to try cracking Loki’s skull again – and hard head or not, he didn’t like the idea of Loki taking too much of that. His heart was pounding enough already. “What of the Aether? You saw-”

“I was rather busy faking my death at the time to see what happened to it,” Loki said dryly. If the situation weren’t so dire, Steve might have been tempted to smile. Njörd’s expression twisted. 

“And the others? You expect me to believe-”

“I expect you to believe nothing,” Loki said. “But the truth remains. I know nothing of their whereabouts. Unfortunately.”

Njörd gripped Loki’s chin and stared at him for a long moment before pushing him back with a noise of disgust. “You are lying,” he said flatly. “You know more than you are saying. I am sure of it.” He turned toward Steve and Steve’s jaw tightened. His ribs still ached like he’d been kicked by a horse, but he refused to let it show, even if his heart thudded nervously in anticipation of pain. 

But Njörd turned back to Loki. He looked at the two Dark Elves murmuring in the corner. “You,” he said. “Fetch me the-” And he said something Steve didn’t recognize. It seemed perhaps Loki did, though, because he twitched very slightly. 

“You give too many orders, Sea-King,” one of the Elves said after a moment, but left. It returned only a few minutes later with a box. Steve tried again to find some wiggle room in the bonds holding his arms over his head, his shoulders feeling the strain, but there was nothing to struggle against. He could just see Loki’s face, his cheek pressed against the stone. 

Njörd paced over to the box and took it, removing a wicked looking knife. Steve tensed, looking toward Loki, but his eyes were closed. Njörd walked slowly back over to him, and a ripple of tension ran through the muscles of his back. 

“One more time,” Njörd said coldly. “Where are the Infinity Stones?”

“If I knew where they were I would have claimed them myself,” Loki said. Despite the quiver of tension Steve could see, his voice sounded remarkably calm. “That you refuse to accept that is your problem, not mine.” 

Njörd’s jaw clenched. A part of Steve wanted to say _one of them is on Earth, I know where it is, leave him alone_ but he didn’t dare, not knowing how dangerous that would be. “Hey,” he did say. “I thought the Aesir were supposed to be big on _honor._ Doesn’t seem like torture is particularly honorable.” 

Njörd looked at him, expression pinching. “What would you know of the Aesir,” he said. “Thor is an oaf, and _this-_ ” he looked at Loki, lip curling. “This is no Aesir.” He turned back toward Loki. “Or does your pet mortal not even know what you are?”

Loki said nothing, but Steve saw him quiver very slightly. Njörd shifted, hefting the knife. “Very well,” he said. “Do you know what this knife is? It forces truth. It will burn the lies out of you until you tell me what I must know.” Steve twisted, straining, but all he succeeded in was making his shoulders burn and send a warning pang through the joint of his shoulder. 

Njörd set the tip of the knife to skin and cut. Loki exhaled sharply but soundlessly and Steve flinched, but Njörd didn’t pause, turning the blade; the second cut made Loki’s body twitch and Steve jerked forward only to be pulled back, bare feet scrabbling a little on stone. 

“Where are they,” Njörd said. Loki said nothing, and, awfully, Steve heard a hiss like acid and Loki’s whole body jerked violently. 

“I told you,” Njörd said ruthlessly. “Each lie burns itself into your flesh.” His nostrils flared. “There are seven runes to mark a traitor. How many can you endure?” He glanced at Steve. “Or perhaps it is how many your mortal lover can endure.”

Loki hissed quietly. “You want to know. Where the Infinity Stones are?” 

Steve tensed, but Njörd almost leapt with eagerness. “Where,” he said urgently. 

The corner of Loki’s grin, slightly mad, was just visible. “Look in - your father’s ass.” 

Njörd’s expression twisted and he carved the next line almost savagely. Steve saw Loki’s body tense but he didn’t cry out, didn’t make a sound, and there was something awful about that even if he knew it was a matter of pride. 

“Tell me where,” Njörd said. “Better that I should claim them-”

“Better,” Loki said. “For whom? You are - a weak-willed fool- _ah_.” Perhaps because he was already speaking, a soft, pained sound marked Njörd’s next cut, a shiver. Maybe he could lie, Steve thought wildly. Bluff somehow, if he could lead Njörd somewhere…

He could already see a sheen of sweat on Loki’s skin. Bravado or not, this was taking a toll. 

Steve started to open his mouth but caught Loki’s eye looking at him, a small shake of his head. He set his jaw, wanted to argue, but Loki’s eye was already closed again, inhaling with a bit of a shudder as Njörd started the next rune.

“You slipped away from Odin, for he grew stupid and soft,” Njörd said harshly. “I will not fail Asgard as he and your brother have. With the power of the Stones-”

Loki coughed a laugh. “They will devour you. You do not have the skill to master even one-”

“The Mind Stone,” Njörd hissed. “Where is it?” 

“With your ancestors in Hel,” Loki said, and then spasmed. 

It went on. And on, and Steve could see Loki’s resistance wearing but incredibly he continued to lie, continued to taunt Njörd even as his skin turned ash pale-

“You’re going to kill him,” Steve burst out. “Stop - _stop it,_ he’ll, he’ll be useless to you if he’s dead.”

Njörd paused. He was breathing hard, the knife dripping blood. He looked at Steve. “Perhaps he told you something,” he said harshly. “Some pillow talk. If you tell me I will see to it that you have a merciful death.” 

Steve swallowed. “I don’t know,” he lied. “Loki never said-”

Njörd lowered the knife and dug the tip into Loki’s back. Finally, a sound: he moaned quietly, and Steve’s stomach clenched. “You seem as though you were an honorable man,” Njörd said. “But you have let this snake twist you into something else. Complicit in his deceits.” He dug the knife in deeper, and Loki shuddered. Njörd looked down at him, expression twisting in disgust. “Let us see his true colors.”

Steve sucked in a breath at the two sharp, quick slashes. Loki cried out, short and sharp, went rigid, and changed. Blue swept over his skin, the ugly marks on his back turning from red to purple, delicate patterns rising on his skin that Steve knew would feel like small ridges. Loki’s breathing sounded more ragged, more strained, and Steve felt a wave of hate and rage that struck him momentarily speechless, and just looked at Njörd. 

“I already know where Loki was born,” he said. “And I know it doesn’t make a damn lick of difference as to who he is. That you think it should says more about your character than his.” He lifted his chin. “You think you’re better somehow, but you’re nothing but a bully who thinks he’s entitled to everything he wants. You don’t care about Asgard, whatever you try to tell yourself. You don’t care about anything but your own power.”

Njörd’s expression twisted with rage, his knuckles on the knife turning white. “If you don’t know anything,” he said, “perhaps I _should_ just kill you. Maybe watching you choke on your own blood would loosen his tongue.”

Steve was too angry to be scared, his heart pounding. “Must make you feel like a real warrior, threatening a guy who can’t fight back. A mere _human._ It’s not ‘cause of me your plan failed. It’s because you’re a pathetic, spineless-”

Njörd lurched toward him. “No,” Loki cried out, sharp and startlingly loud. To Steve’s surprise, Njörd actually stopped. He looked from Loki to Steve and back. 

“Would you tell me, then? To keep your pet alive?” 

Loki’s shoulders shuddered, pulling open the ugly wounds on his back. “If you kill him,” he said hoarsely, “Not only will I – never speak to you again, I will tear open my own veins to summon a creature that will devour you to be digested in darkness for a millennium, and consider the price worth it.”

Steve stared at Loki. He sounded utterly serious, and Steve felt a thrill of fear down his spine. _Could he do that?_

Njörd’s throat worked. “You could not…”

“You do not know what I cannot do.” 

Njörd’s jaw tightened, but after a moment he turned away from Steve and towards the two Dark Elves watching. “Take them back to their cell,” he said harshly. “We are done here. For now.”

One of the Elves said something to their companion that made him smile. Even as they moved toward Steve, though, Njörd struck, driving the knife through Loki’s shoulder until Steve heard it strike stone. Loki made a breathless, choked noise, and Njörd bared his teeth. 

“You will tell me,” he said. “I will not let you and your mouthy _pet_ keep me from saving the Golden Realm.”

“Y-you won’t even be able to save y-yourself, in the end,” Loki said, his teeth chattering. Njörd pulled the knife out and Steve’s stomach turned at the sound. 

“Get them out of my sight,” he said with disgust, dropping the blade on the ground. The door slammed behind him.

* * *

The guard who took hold of Loki was wearing heavy gloves, and was careful not to touch any of Loki’s exposed skin. Loki could barely keep his feet on the way back, and when they were pushed back into the cell Loki folded to the floor almost as soon as the guard released him. Steve lunged toward him only to end up bent double at the violent nausea that seized his stomach – and Loki too, by the way he moaned. He backed off, biting his lip hard. 

Loki lay still, breathing raggedly. Steve inched closer again, wishing he could reach out, that they could at least _comfort_ each other. The wounds on his back had already scabbed over, but the one in his shoulder still bled sluggishly. The clear pain in Loki’s breathing and the way he shivered suggested that whatever magic was in the knife was still affecting him. 

And he still hadn’t changed back. Steve could feel the cold radiating from him a couple feet away.

“Loki?” Steve said carefully. 

“Mm.” Loki inhaled slowly. “You didn’t - say anything. Congratulations.” 

Steve dared to edge closer, trying not to wince. “I don’t think that deserves congratulations.” 

“I am sorry,” Loki said after a moment, still lying half curled up. “I got you into this. If I-”

“Stop that,” Steve said harshly. “If you want to point fingers - _I_ was the one who insisted on going to Asgard, and besides-” He stopped, hesitating, but now that he’d started to say it… “Besides,” he said, “apparently it’s not just because of you. My name’s come up for - some other reason.” 

Loki tensed, his head lifting. “What do you mean?”

“I don’t know,” Steve said. “Just...something Njörd said. That there are…’dangerous people’ looking for me.”

Loki was silent. His breathing sounded rough and loud. “Did he say. Did he say who?” 

“No,” Steve said. “No names. Just that…someone was interested.” He bit his lip before saying, “you haven’t…changed back. Not that I – just, usually you do.” 

“I cannot,” Loki said, after a moment’s pause. “The rune he used – and the knife. Strips away falsehoods.” His eyes were closed, Steve realized, like he was afraid of what he’d see if he opened them. 

“You’re a shapeshifter, right?” Steve said carefully. “Your normal…the way you usually look. That’s not a lie. It’s just as real as…this is.” He ached to reach out, to touch him. Not only for Loki’s comfort. “I meant what I said,” he added after a moment. “About you. It doesn’t matter. It’s never mattered to me.”

“I know,” Loki said after a moment. But he still didn’t open his eyes. 

_I love you,_ Steve wanted to say, but it felt too private to speak when there might be ears listening in. He saw Loki’s left hand, his thumb rubbing across the base of his ring finger. Missing that small token too, Steve thought, but he didn’t say anything. Njörd already knew too much about him and Loki as it was.

“It feels wrong,” Loki said after a long silence, his voice very quiet. “Like this skin…it doesn’t quite fit me. A dissonance. But this is the truth of me. Perhaps that wrongness is as well.” He sounded tired, and Steve felt a flash of alarm, not sure if it was for the idea that someone might overhear and use what Loki’d said against him or the idea that Loki might be – giving up, somehow. 

“I don’t know,” Steve said honestly. “Who’s to say that? Seems to me _the truth of you_ is whatever you feel like it is. Not what someone else tells you.” He paused. “I…I might wish that…you didn’t hate it so much. This part of yourself. But that doesn’t mean it’s _more you._ ”

“Sometimes I wonder what my life would be like if I had met you earlier,” Loki said after a long quiet. “If perhaps things would not have…gone so badly. If there had been someone like you to turn to…or even earlier, during your war – what might I have done? For you, for James…”

“Who knows,” Steve said. “I don’t think…playing the _what if_ game doesn’t usually lead anywhere good.” He’d certainly done it enough. “I’m here now. And so are you.”

“For what that is worth,” Loki said, with a faint, wry laugh. “Ah, Steve.” _I love you,_ Steve thought he heard, unspoken. He lowered his voice. 

“We’re not finished,” he said. “So don’t you dare give up, okay? We’re going to get out of this.”

Loki was quiet for several nerve-wracking seconds before he exhaled a quiet laugh and said, “if only I had some idea as to how.”

It wasn’t exactly agreement, but it was something. Steve slumped. “You’re not the only one thinking,” he pointed out. “Between the two of us I’d say we have more than our fair share of getting out of sticky situations.”

“I suppose we do, at that,” Loki murmured. His skin seemed to be changing back, slowly, to its more usual color. 

“Why do you think we can’t get near each other?” Steve asked after a few moments. “Is it some kind of spell, or…”

“Something woven into the magic in these, I suspect,” Loki said, raising his wrists to indicate the shackles. “Something I’m sure I could undo if I could reach my magic. But if I could reach my magic…”

“We wouldn’t be here.” Steve wondered if he’d be able to fight through the nausea to get close enough to help Loki remove the collar and cuffs, somehow, but he was reasonable sure if he got that close he wouldn’t be much use. 

Maybe if he pretended to cooperate…but no, he didn’t think Njörd would ever let Loki get even close to getting free. Probably not Steve, either. 

That brought him back around to something else, though. Steve cleared his throat. “Loki…what you said to Njörd. What you threatened him with. Could you…really do something like that?” 

“I could,” Loki said after several long seconds. “I know the theory. And how it is done. I did a great deal of reading on…darker areas of magic, at one time. Out of curiosity, mostly. With enough people muttering ominous warnings about _forbidden workings,_ who can resist investigating?” Loki’s voice was light, but Steve still felt a faint chill down his spine.

“It is not something I am proud of,” Loki said after a moment, more quietly. “Nor something I say lightly. But what I said to Njörd…I meant it.”

 _You shouldn’t,_ Steve wanted to say, but checked himself. Could he really claim that he’d be totally reasonable if Njörd did something to Loki? That he wouldn’t want to do something drastic, that he wouldn’t want Njörd to die?

He remembered being in the Raft and thinking _if they’ve killed him_ and not quite knowing how that sentence would end. But…

“You know I don’t want you to self-destruct if anything happens to me,” Steve said quietly. Loki exhaled quietly. 

“I know,” he said, which wasn’t exactly agreement, but it wasn’t an argument Steve wanted to have. 

“You should rest,” he said instead. 

“I had my turn,” Loki said. “It’s yours now. Hopefully we will have some time while Njörd fumes over his failure.”

Steve doubted that. Njörd didn’t seem like the type who would back off with failure – more likely double down and try harder. “Don’t really feel much like sleeping,” he said. Loki looked at him wordlessly, and Steve sighed. “All right, all right. I’ll try.”

The hard floor was the opposite of comfortable, but lying down made Steve realize how exhausted he was. He closed his eyes, trying to imagine that he was in bed, Loki half draped over him, wrapped up in blankets. Well fed, safe, warm, happy. 

It wasn’t easy to convince himself. Just now, that felt very far away.

“Tell me we’re going to make it home,” he mumbled.

“We will,” Loki said. “This is nothing. A minor setback, for the man who fought all of HYDRA and argued with the All-Father. I hope you plan to carry me over the threshold when you return, the conquering hero.”

“Maybe I’ll make you carry me,” Steve mumbled. “You’re no lightweight yourself.” But he could feel himself smiling just a little as he drifted off.

* * *

Steve took his turn sleeping, though he woke regularly out of vague and muddled dreams that combined memories of HYDRA with his present situation. Every time he woke he reached unconsciously for Loki, and while they couldn’t touch at least his voice was some reassurance. 

Finally he did wake more fully, groggy and disoriented, to Loki saying “Steve,” his tone suggesting it wasn’t the first time. 

“Huh?” He said blurrily.

“They’re coming back,” Loki said simply, and Steve’s head cleared fast. He sat up quickly, glancing over at Loki - he still looked pale, and the way he sat straight, not leaning back, suggested that some marks lingered, or at least some pain. 

“Do you have a plan?” Steve asked, but Loki shook his head. 

“Nothing certain. Not yet.” He swallowed, the only sign of any nerves. “If they take me…”

What Loki was going to say Steve didn’t find out, though, because the door opened. It was only two again, and Steve wasn’t sure if that was better or worse. “Nice to see you again,” he said, pushing himself to his feet. 

They both regarded him with blank expressions. One of them glanced at Loki and said something to its companion that made him snicker. 

“I can understand you,” Loki said, his voice flat. He hadn’t risen; Steve hoped that was a choice and not a sign that the torture had weakened him more than he wanted to show. “I made a study of your people once.” 

Both of them were looking at Loki now. “I do not know why you are allowed to speak,” one of them said. Its voice sounded slightly higher - maybe that one was a woman? Stupid thing to wonder about. “They should gag you. When the Aesir is done with you we will cut out your tongue.” 

Steve tensed, though the threat was casually spoken. “He thinks he is great for murdering Malekith, Valkallin,” the other elf said. “Even if it was not even his hand that slew him.”

“Where is your Jotun skin?” The one called Valkallin stepped forward. “A fine joke, to find one of your kind hiding among the Aesir. I did not know the murderer’s son kept pets.”

Loki’s shoulders drew up and his expression tightened. “That’s enough,” Steve said, moving to get between Loki and Valkallin. His stomach turned but there was just enough distance that he could stand firm. “If you’re here for a reason, get on with it.”

“Apparently Odin Borsson is not the only one to keep pets,” Valkallin’s unnamed companion murmured, not quietly. Steve’s spine stiffened but he didn’t rise to it, and after a moment the elf scoffed. “The Aesir requests your presence.”

“Don’t suppose I can decline,” Steve said flatly. 

“I thought the Svartalfar had more dignity than to run errands for a powerless fool,” Loki said. One of Valkallin’s hands went to her weapon, but her companion forestalled her.

“It can wait,” he said. “We will have blood eventually. For now…” He met Steve’s eyes. “You will come with us.” 

Steve wondered if he should try to struggle, but he decided against it. It wouldn’t do any good, and if he wanted to try to get any information out of his guards...these two seemed more talkative. Maybe they’d be willing to talk to him. All he needed was one little piece of something he could use.

He turned to Loki, just briefly, and gave him what he hoped was an encouraging smile before Valkallin dragged him roughly out. He waited until the door closed behind them and he was a few steps away before speaking. 

“If you’re Valkallin,” he said, “what’s your name?” 

“Don’t speak my name,” Valkallin said sharply. “It is not for you.”

Steve blinked. “Sorry,” he said, after a moment. “Just making conversation.” The other guard snorted.

“What _are_ you doing working with Njörd?” Steve tried again after a few moments. “Far as I can tell, the Aesir haven’t exactly been your friends.”

Neither of them responded. Maybe he’d been wrong in thinking they’d be chattier.

“What did he promise you?” Steve asked. “He must be offering you something you want.”

His two guards glanced at each other. “We have our reasons,” the nameless one said. Steve decided to think of him as Calvin, after a particularly unpleasant drill sergeant.

“Njörd doesn’t seem like the kind of guy who’d keep his word to anyone who isn’t Aesir,” Steve said. “He doesn’t seem to think much of other species. People.” 

“If you are so concerned about the Svartalfar,” Valkallin said coldly, “you should not ally yourself with one who betrayed our greatest leader to his death.” Steve didn’t know enough about what had happened on Asgard to answer that, though he _did_ know Malekith had nearly killed Frigga and would have, according to Thor, destroyed a great deal more than just Asgard. He kept that thought to himself. 

They brought him to the same room where Njörd had tortured Loki, chained him to the same wall. There were still bloodstains visible on the table but Steve didn’t let himself look away or flinch. There was something else sitting on it, too, but Steve didn’t examine that too closely either. He didn’t know what it was, and it was clear enough that Njörd was trying to make him uncomfortable. He wasn’t going to give the man any satisfaction.

The dark elves left. Njörd made him wait. Steve distracted himself by going over the lyrics of big band songs in his head. 

When Njörd did eventually swagger in, Steve’s shoulders were aching, but he managed to raise his eyebrows. “What took you so long?” 

Njörd’s expression flickered with displeasure, but he wiped it away quickly enough, strolling over as though he had all the time in the world. “What is this?” Njörd asked, pulling a small object out of his pocket and holding it up in front of Steve. Steve knew even before he looked what it was going to be, and tensed. 

“Mine,” Steve said. “And I bet you have Loki’s, too. You a thief now, too?” 

“The metal is strange,” Njörd said. He held the ring up to his face, studying it. “Uncommonly strong, particularly for Midgardian metals.” He set it back down and looked at Steve. “Among the Aesir, rings exchanged among lovers are a token of a bonding promised. One step from a formal marriage.” His lip curled a hair. “Is that what is the meaning of these...trinkets? Have you promised yourself to the man who attacked your Realm?” 

Steve’s jaw tightened. “I don’t see as that’s any of your business.” 

“Even from a mere mortal I would not expect such folly,” Njörd said. “A dalliance for pleasure, perhaps – especially if Loki is so willing to play _seiðskratti_ as tales claim-”

Steve might not know the word, but he knew an insult when he heard one. “Loki’s a thousand times better than you are,” Steve said. “A better man, a better friend – and I’d bet a better _fighter,_ since I noticed you didn’t try coming to capture us yourself. Scared you couldn’t win in a fair fight?” He raised his chin. “I wouldn’t expect you to understand a damn thing about Loki and me. Not when I doubt you’ve felt any love for anyone other than yourself in your life.”

For a moment Steve thought Njörd would strike him, but then he visibly checked himself. 

“One final time,” he said, voice even colder than before, “I will ask. Give up your lover: he is doomed. You may yet save yourself, if you will kneel, and swear your obedience to me. I might have use for a mortal of your gifts, and apparently there is yet more to you than it seems.”

Steve worked up enough moisture in his mouth to spit in his face. Rage flashed across Njörd’s features and for a moment Steve thought he would strike him, but instead he stalked over to the table and picked up the thing on it, like a strange sort of crown. Metal pressed into his temples. 

“An old thing,” Njörd said coldly. “It was used, once, on traitors who were too valuable to kill. To steal away their will and make them...biddable. Oh, there was little left of what they were before. But they were obedient.”

Steve’s stomach clenched, his heart skipping a beat, but he kept his fear off his face. “Figures you’d need that,” he said. “No one would ever _choose_ to follow you.” Despite the bravado, though, his chest felt tight. If he could really do it - make him nothing but a tool for this _bastard-_

“When the Laufeyson breaks and tells me all,” Njörd said, “I will have you cut off his head and enjoy the look on his face. I will have you wear your ring when you do it.” 

Steve tried to brace himself. There was a low hum that he felt in his teeth, and his breathing came fast and shallow, fists clenching-

A spike stabbed through his temple and deep into his brain. Steve screamed, his body going rigid, his vision going white. Njörd was wrong, this was going to kill him, something was splitting his head open from the inside-

 _Fight it._ He imagined digging in his heels. _Doesn’t hurt that bad. Just get through it. Can’t last forever. Can’t-_

He could feel his spine bending, arching like he could get away. His brain was being cored like an apple, something pulling at him, pulling at his memories, and he dug in and tried to 

( _hold on_ )

He was sweating out a fever, dying, he could see it in his mother’s face - no, think of Loki in the cell, think of everyone at home, Bucky and Sam, Clint and Wanda and Pietro and Scott. Think of-

It _hurt._ Oh God, _let it stop,_ he’d do anything-

Not anything. _Not_ anything.

There was pressure building at the front of his brain, behind his eyes. He felt like his head was going to explode, like he was being pulled apart from the inside out. He could still hear himself screaming and couldn’t understand how he still could when he must have been here forever.

_Doesn’t - not that bad, has to end sometime, has to-_

He couldn’t breathe. There was nothing left but the pain and the throbbing command like a drumbeat inside his skull. _Obey. Obey. Obeyobeyobey-_

 _(no, I won’t, hold on hold_ on)

He was slipping. He could feel himself losing his grip. Losing _himself._ Something _popped_ like a tendon giving way and he’d been wrong, it was never going to end, not until there was nothing of him left and he was just Njörd’s puppet, and Loki was going to die because he hadn’t been strong enough.

_Please - someone-_

Steve heard himself sob, raggedly. His eyes burned; he felt as though they must be bleeding. _Just a little longer. Five seconds. Five - seconds-_

_I’m sorry. I’m so sorry._

The last sparks of consciousness winked out.

* * *

Steve’s ears were ringing and he could taste copper in his mouth. “-ve. Steve!” Loki’s voice sounded far away and scared, desperate. Steve lay still, his thoughts jumbled together, trying to remember what had happened. He’d been... he’d been…

There was a big _blank spot_ in his memory. Steve tried to move and heard a faint moaning sound it took him a moment to realize had come from him. 

“ _Steve._ Answer me.” Loki sounded on the edge of panic. Steve tried to string the words together to say _I’m fine, it’s all right_ but couldn’t quite figure out how to get them from his brain to his mouth. Loki’s voice rose to a shout. “What did you do to him, you-”

He shouted a series of words, not in English, probably insulting. Steve blinked, the spots in front of his eyes starting to clear. He spat weakly, expecting to see blood, but it was just spit. The copper taste stuck around. “Loki,” he managed to croak, finally, and he heard Loki inhale raggedly. 

“Are you - Steve, what happened, are you all right-”

“I’m…” fine was too much of a lie. “I’ll...be okay.” It seemed to take a long time to get from thinking the words to saying them, like there was some kind of delay. His brain felt like it’d been squeezed in someone’s fist. “Gimme a minute.” 

“You were unconscious for at least ten,” Loki said, plainly agitated. “And then not reacting at all for another five - what did they do to you? Are you hurt, where-”

“M’not sure.” Steve probed around his mouth with his tongue, but there were no teeth loose, and no source of the copper taste he could find. It was just there, like he’d chewed on a penny. “Head feels…I don’t remember.”

Loki made a small, unhappy noise. Steve could hear him moving, pacing. “Let me touch him,” he said, apparently to no one. “Let me _help,_ for the Norn’s sake. If anything happens to him I swear I will kill all of you-”

“Loki,” Steve rasped, suddenly worried that they’d come after him if he started making threats, try to contain him more tightly. “It’s...it’s okay.” 

“It is not,” Loki hissed. “Steve, how can you _say_ that? They hurt you, _tortured_ you-”

“Trust me,” Steve said weakly. “I know what they did.” Memory was coming back, slowly, and Steve started to shiver. Somehow he was still – alive. Himself. But remembering how it had felt, the certainty that he’d been – _this_ close to losing himself…he was shaking and couldn’t stop. He wanted to crawl over to Loki and cling to him for comfort, for the certainty that he was still _there._

“Steve,” Loki said, closer than before. “You’re…you’re shaking.”

He curled into himself, shame warring with exhaustion. “I know. I just-“ He couldn’t decide if he wanted to tell Loki what had happened or desperately didn’t want him to know. “It’ll. It’ll pass.”

Loki inhaled unsteadily, quiet for a moment. “I can’t help you,” he said, frustration clear in his voice. “I can’t get us out of here, I can’t heal you, I’m utterly _useless-_ ”

“Loki,” Steve said tiredly. “Don’t. I can’t argue with you right now. I can hardly think. Just…” Be here. Talk to me. 

He heard Loki stop moving, and after a long moment he sighed. “The last several times I was in this situation,” he said quietly, “I was alone. With...him, and Doom, and Ross. It may be selfish of me, but I am glad I am not alone now.”

Steve smiled weakly. “I know the feeling.”

Loki made a soft noise. “I wish I could touch you. Hold you. Run my fingers through your hair and feel your heartbeat.” Steve’s eyes burned a little, but he managed to push that away. 

“I know that feeling too.” He let his head drop back down to the floor, too weary and sore to hold it up. Only feet away and it might have been miles. He wanted to crawl over to Loki and put his head in his lap and sleep for a week. 

“He had some sort of…thing,” Steve said after a long pause. “Device. He said it used to be used on…traitors. He was trying to…turn me. Make me do whatever he wanted.” 

“Steve,” Loki said, sounding anguished. 

“It didn’t work,” Steve said. “I don’t know…how. But it didn’t work.”

“Are you certain?” Loki said after a long pause. Steve wasn’t sure if he was supposed to hear it, but his stomach plunged. Bucky had had an activation sequence that HYDRA had used to control him. What if…?

“I don’t feel any different,” he said. “Except – except sore. Njörd wouldn’t…I don’t think he’d wait, if he could…control me. He’s not that subtle.” 

He could hear Loki breathing shallowly. Steve’s chest felt tight again, not quite able to pull in a full breath.

“You’re right,” Loki said finally. “He wouldn’t…he doesn’t have the patience. You sound like yourself. I…trust you.” The doubt nagged at the back of Steve’s mind now, though, and he shivered as he tried to push it away. 

“I’m still me,” he said, like if he said it aloud he might convince himself completely. 

“You are,” Loki said, sounding more certain. “I do not think…I remember something about the sort of device you describe. I do not think it would have left you…at all yourself, if it had worked. In my memory what it produced were automatons, or something little better than…” He trailed off. Maybe he could see the color draining out of Steve’s face, or maybe he just realized fully what he was saying. Steve swallowed hard. 

“Sure don’t feel like an automaton,” he said, trying to make his voice steady. “Just like I really wanna…punch Njörd in the face.”

“To start,” Loki agreed.

Steve tried to sit up again, stifled and groan, and gave up. 

“They brought some food while you were gone,” Loki said after a brief silence. “Nothing terribly appetizing, but it is better than nothing. Can you eat?”

“I don’t know. Maybe.” Steve swallowed hard, trying to take deep breaths. “My head…” He still felt like his brain was going to leak out his ears. Loki made a faint sound in the back of his throat. 

“I am going to kill Njörd personally if it is the last thing I do,” he said.

“Don’t…” Steve swallowed. “Don’t make it the last thing. Not worth it.” God, he felt so _weak._ Like a wet rag must feel after being wrung out. He cast his mind about, trying to think of something else. Something distracting. “What’s a _seiðskratti_?” 

There was a brief pause before Loki laughed, soft but harsh. “Njörd called me that, did he? He never did have much imagination. It is – a word for a mage, specifically a man, who…I think the Midgardian term is _bottoms_ for another man.”

Steve nearly flinched. “There’s a _word_ for that?” He would’ve liked to think an alien society, at least, would be beyond that kind of prejudice. No one who had known had seemed to judge _him._

“Several,” Loki said. Steve wondered how many he’d been called. He glanced at Steve. “Asgard does not particularly care what gender you take up with. More the role you choose to play.” 

Steve remembered, suddenly, Loki’s hesitation when he’d first asked…had he thought Steve would feel the same way? Had he thought Steve thought that about _him_? “That’s stupid,” he said vehemently, even if the force cost him a throb in his skull. “It shouldn’t matter what people choose to do in bed any more than who they choose to do it with.”

“You should know by now that people _love_ to know what others are doing in their beds,” Loki said. He seemed amused, but Steve wondered how real that was. He closed his eyes; that seemed to make the pain a little better. 

“Let’s not talk about Njörd anymore,” he said. 

“I could tell you a story, if you like.” Loki sounded like he was joking, but Steve opened his eyes to look at him. 

“Would you?” Loki blinked, and Steve tried to smile. “I could use a distraction. And Thor says you tell good stories.” The moment he mentioned Thor he regretted it – the reminder of his absence, and the fact that they didn’t know what was happening to him, had to be painful.

“Does he,” Loki said, after a beat of silence. “Well. I suppose I could. I can’t weave the illusions to make it a proper story, though. My voice will have to be enough.”

“It’ll be plenty,” Steve said. He didn’t say that he’d probably have his eyes closed, anyway. Loki didn’t need to worry more. 

“Let’s see, then. Which…how about the story of Alvilda and the bear prince?” 

“Sounds perfect,” Steve said. He closed his eyes again. “Thank you.” 

“You’re welcome,” Loki said after a brief pause. Steve heard him shift, and when he spoke his voice changed slightly, taking on a sound that wasn’t quite chant but wasn’t normal speech, either. “In a time before time, after Auðumbla licked Ymir out of the ice but before the Realms broke into Nine, a maiden dark of hair and sharp of tongue was born, a hunter’s daughter…”

Steve listened, letting the words sweep him away, imagining it all. Beautiful and strange, and far away from here, in some world where bears could be princes and women conversed with trees.

* * *

Njörd left them alone for some time. 

Steve’s headache ebbed, after a while. He tried to move around, to keep his body active to some extent, but the fact was there wasn’t much of anywhere to go. He tried also to think of plans, and not think about what might be going on out there. What if something had gone wrong on Earth? What if Bucky – or for that matter, _any_ of his friends – had done something stupid? Loki lapsed too often into brooding silence, and Steve worried what he might be brooding on. 

The food was unappetizing, but at least it was edible – if not really enough for either of them. Steve studied the Dark Elves that came to drop it off, but he could barely tell them apart, and despite his attempts to speak with them none ever said anything to him. They eyed Loki with hatred and him with contempt.

Steve wondered how long it had been. Did time pass differently here than on Earth? It could have been months, _years_. 

His stomach twisted. 

“Steve,” Loki said quietly, and he realized he was pacing and breathing hard. 

“Sorry,” he said, forcing his breathing to slow. “Just…thinking.”

Loki’s smile was a bitter twist. “I more than many know how dangerous ‘just thinking’ can be.” 

“You should sleep,” Steve said. He was fairly certain Loki hadn’t, not in what he guessed was days. Loki shook his head, and Steve turned fully to him, frowning. “You can’t just stop sleeping, Loki. You know what that does to you, and I don’t care if you can go longer than most without.”

Loki’s jaw tensed, then relaxed. He looked away first. “I will not give them the satisfaction of hearing me scream,” he said quietly. Steve winced, but it was hard to argue with that desire. You held on to what scraps of pride you could, when you were a prisoner.

Njörd stayed away for a while, but he didn’t stay away forever. And when he came back, this time it was for both of them again. Steve was afraid it was going to be the knife, but it seemed Njörd meant to try something else.

Both of them were strung up across from each other. Njörd had left them like that for a while, presumably to stew, but his patience didn’t last for long. 

“Do you know what this is?” Njörd asked, holding up a vial maybe the size of Steve’s thumb, filled with something black and viscous. Steve’s stomach turned a little, looking at it, but he managed to just raise his eyebrows. 

“Me? The ignorant Midgardian?” 

Njörd just smiled faintly and turned toward Loki. “And do you?” 

There was a brief flicker of expression on Loki’s face. Fear, Steve thought. “I am familiar,” he said. “It makes me wonder if you have forgotten my promise.”

“Ah, yes,” Njörd said. “Your petty threat.” Steve did not think he had found it so petty. By the cold twist of Loki’s lips, he didn’t think so either. “Don’t fret. I do not intend to kill your pet yet.” He turned back toward Steve. “Is your care for him genuine, or just a matter of possessiveness? You were always a jealous one.” Loki’s expression was stone, which was better than Steve was doing. “I thought to test how far that care goes. Whatever else they are, it is true that the Jotnar are...resilient. Mortals, however…” 

He picked up the vial again and spoke to Steve. “This is a peculiar venom with which the Svartalfar coat their weapons. Three drops brings a slow and excruciating death. Five can kill even the strongest Aesir in seconds. One…”

Steve set his jaw and locked eyes with Njörd. “Go ahead,” he challenged. Loki made a small - very small, but still audible - noise. Njörd paused. 

“Have you something to say?” He asked, too much anticipation in his voice to make it the pleasant indifference he was clearly trying for. 

“You must be more of a fool than I took you for,” Loki said. “If you’ve miscalculated - I do not _threaten_. I _swore_ and I will swear again, if you kill him-”

“Midgardian he may be, but hardier than most,” Njörd interrupted. “One drop at a time should not kill him.” His eyes met Steve’s coldly. “Probably.” 

Steve’s stomach clenched but he kept his face stubbornly still. Looked past Njörd to Loki, trying to tell him - _I’ll be fine, I can take it,_ or even _close your eyes, don’t watch, please._ He knew that last was pointless. Loki wouldn’t look away any more than he had. 

He looked at Loki rather than Njörd, trying to keep his body relaxed. He couldn’t stop the sharp inhale when something nicked him just above his collarbone, the initial pain not much worse than he’d given himself shaving. He opened his mouth to say so and the heel side kicked in.

It felt like someone had dumped fire straight into his veins. He could feel the skin blistering off his shoulder, acid burning through down to the bone and eating through that too. He couldn’t quite strangle off the pained shout fast enough and he thought he might have jerked his head back against the wall, but that pain hardly registered next to the other.

The burning ebbed away slowly, leaving Steve panting, his stomach roiling. He expected his arm to be useless, but he could feel his fingers twitch even as his arm still throbbed. He swallowed hard a few times. 

“That’s not that bad,” he managed to say. Grinning was harder. “Hope you didn’t have plans. I can do this all day.”

“Can you?” The way the venom moved when Njörd turned the vial on its side was...unnerving. Not quite like a liquid. Steve tried not to wonder what it was made of. “Perhaps more to the point...is your lover willing to watch you do so?”

Steve knew what to expect this time, or thought he did. 

It didn’t make it any better. 

He knew it was just a small cut but it felt like a chasm, the venom eating into his body and seeping into his bloodstream. Pain shot up the nerves in his neck and Steve managed to bite down on the first scream but not the second, or the third. Was it his imagination or was it worse this time? If three drops killed would it matter if they were spaced out?

It definitely took him longer to catch his breath this time, and when his eyes moved sluggishly to look at Loki he looked wild-eyed, almost feral, like he might rip out Njörd’s throat with his teeth if he got the chance. 

“Well?” Njörd said, turning toward him. “You could spare Captain Rogers further pain, Loki. You know that he does not really deserve this. Would you really put your hatred for Asgard above his well being?” 

“Go to hell,” Steve said, before Loki could answer. “Loki knows better than to give you a damn thing.”

Loki’s expression spasmed and he looked about to say something, but apparently Steve had pissed Njörd off. More. He spun and a thin hot line burned across Steve’s cheek - and apparently there was just enough venom on the blade to work. He gritted his teeth but a whine still slipped through as pain chewed him up and he banged his head against the wall in a futile attempt to escape it, his vision flashing between red and white.

“---a troll-blooded coward, crawling _nið_ scavenging from the tables of your betters.” Loki’s voice bled back into Steve’s awareness, though he wasn’t sure if he’d actually passed out or just been beyond hearing. “There is not a word from your mouth but it oozes simpering folly, the stench of corpse-carrion follows you, spawn of Nidhogg.” 

Steve opened his eyes slowly. Njörd stood half turned away from him, quivering with obvious rage. “Be silent,” he said. “Would you have me do worse than I have? You have no word against me, you who would lie on your belly for a mortal-” 

Loki’s expression was twisted with savage contempt beyond what Steve had ever seen. “ _A_ word against you? I have several.” He sneered. “At least I _have_ a lover. Tell me: when was the last time Skadi let you touch her? I heard she refused to share a house with you, let alone a bed. Perhaps you insult me for my desires because you have nothing that _any_ desire.”

 _Stop it, Loki,_ Steve wanted to say, as Njörd turned from him toward Loki, his expression twisting with rage. _You’re going to get yourself killed._ “Loki,” he managed to say, but didn’t get much further than that before Loki was off again. 

“Let me tell you what you are, _Njörd Sea-King,_ and know every word for the bitter truth: that you are a crawling worm with a rotten heart, clawing after power you neither deserve nor are capable of controlling. You are a fool - _less_ than a fool, as at least they may be entertaining.” His eyes glittered like chips of stone, but he didn’t so much as glance in Steve’s direction. “It suits you to scuttle in shadows like the _insect_ you are - spineless, gutless, witless, made impotent by your own greed and lust for power. How your ancestors would _cringe_ to see you now.”

Njörd snarled. “I will _gut_ your mortal pet and make you watch him gasp out his last breaths-”

“Loki,” Steve tried again, but he wasn’t going to stop. Steve recognized the look on his face. The best he could do- “Seems like - going after me just proves his point,” he said. “You can’t take _him._ And you can’t even break - a _weak mortal._ ” 

Njörd turned back toward him, fury blazing even hotter in his eyes, but he hadn’t even taken a step before Loki laughed, raucous and harsh. 

“He isn’t wrong,” he said. “How _does_ it feel, Njörd, to be unmanned by a Jotun and a Midgardian? Twice now, if I do not miss my count.”

Njörd wasn’t looking at Steve anymore. He took a step toward Loki, dagger clenched in his fist. “Mind your tongue or I will _take_ it.” Loki was going to get himself killed, Steve thought, but why would he – he wasn’t _stupid,_ he had to know that would only kill Steve, too-

Unless he’d made some kind of deal, Steve thought with a jerk in his stomach. Some kind of stupid, hare-brained, self-sacrificial-

“You expected the Infinity Stones to fall into your hand like a ripe fruit, but once again - once again! - you fall short.” Loki’s smile was sharp-edged, savage. “That is the story of your life, it seems. You should run while you still have the chance. Before you are faced with an enemy that you have not hobbled and bound first - as those seem to be your preference. Slink back into the shadows and shelter with the thieves and brigands you have made your kin-”

He cut off as Njörd surged forward, one hand grabbing Loki’s hair, the other swinging the knife back to slash it across his throat. “Loki!” Steve shouted, but a gloved hand grabbed Njörd’s arm mid-swing.

It was one of the Elves. They had moved when Steve wasn’t paying attention, apparently, one of them standing at Njörd’s right with a hand on his weapon, the other gripping the arm holding the dagger. Njörd’s head turned to stare at that one. Steve held very still, holding his breath. 

“No,” the Elf said. 

“Let go of me,” Njörd said, his voice tight. 

“You may not kill him,” the Elf said, quiet and toneless. “We do not have the Aether yet. You claimed this man would know where it was. We will not accept changing of the terms.” The Elf released Njörd’s arm, and he turned fully to face it. Her, maybe, though Steve could only guess by the voice.

“I do not see you making an effort,” Njörd snarled. The Elf shrugged. 

“We have provided you with resources. It is no fault of ours you have failed to learn anything of use. You have not asked for more direct help.”

Steve relaxed slowly. No, he realized, Loki hadn’t been trying to get himself killed at all. Oh, he’d been taking a risk – a big risk. But not to get himself killed. Steve glanced at Loki, and thought he caught just a brief satisfied smile before his chin dropped as though exhausted by his tirade.

Njörd seemed to realize that he had an audience, and stepped back. “Consider this a request, then,” he said coldly. “If you think you can do better, by all means.” His voice turned hard. “But do not interfere with me - or lay hands on me - again.”

The Elf’s bow was unquestionably mocking. “As you command.”

Divide and conquer. Steve knew that strategy. 

There might be a way out of here after all.

* * *

Steve kept his head down and his shoulders bowed while he and Loki were led back to their cells, the image of exhaustion and defeat. It wasn’t that hard, unfortunately; the worst of the poison might have worn off but he still felt weak, sharp pain shooting through his shoulder whenever he moved it. 

He waited a little while before speaking. “He could’ve killed you,” he said to Loki’s back. “You shouldn’t have done that.”

Loki scoffed. “But he didn’t.” 

“He would’ve,” Steve said, staunchly. “Loki…I don’t know if this is worth it.” The little stumble in Loki’s step was either artful or he wasn’t sure what Steve was doing. “Maybe we should just give him what he wants.”

“No,” Loki said flatly. He sounded angry, and Steve felt a flicker of doubt, wondering if he’d misread the situation, what Loki was trying to do. “Besides…even if we do surrender, he’s not going to let us go. He as good as promised that.”

“Maybe we can make some kind of bargain,” Steve said, but Loki interrupted. 

“ _No_ ,” he said again, harsher. “No bargains, not with him. I would not offer Njörd scraps from a midden. That you would _suggest_ it-”

“What do _you_ think we should do?” Steve said, hoping, praying that he wasn’t doing the wrong thing. “Just – give up? Is that what you were trying to do back there?” 

One of the Dark Elves said something to its companion, who laughed. Loki hissed, the sound he made when a barb struck home. “Better that than what you would do,” he said. “Give Njörd everything on a silver platter. I don’t know about you, but I hardly want to see what that fool would do with the Mind Stone in his hands – let alone the Reality-”

Loki broke off sharply with a quick glance sideways as though realizing he’d said too much. Their guards had definitely stopped laughing. Steve could feel their attention sharpen. 

The one on Loki’s left turned grabbed his arm and pulled him to a halt. “Finish what you were saying.”

Loki’s jaw shifted. His eyes moved slightly toward Steve and he could read the communication plainly – _stay silent._ He managed not to let out a sigh of relief: he had been playing the right game after all. But the instruction was so obvious – for Loki, anyway – that Steve guessed- “You’re always telling _me_ to be careful what I say,” he said, summoning all his frustration and shoving it into his voice. “You never know when to stop running your mouth.”

The way Loki jerked made Steve regret adding that last, but he couldn’t apologize now. Later, he’d make sure Loki knew he didn’t mean it. 

“Silence him,” the Elf that had stopped Loki said. “Go on, Laufeyson. What do you know of the Reality Stone?” 

“Nothing,” Loki said after a pause. He sneered. “And I am no _Laufeyson._ ”

“Nothing,” the Elf echoed. “Likely.” He stepped closer to Loki. “Perhaps an hour with one of the Kursed will bring back your memory.” 

Loki paled slightly, but only slightly. “If you think I will be impressed by threats, you have not been paying attention.”

The Elf’s eyes turned toward Steve. “And what if I threaten him?” He asked. “The Kursed do not know mortal limits.” Steve didn’t have to try that hard to look nervous.

Loki laughed, harshly. “I think you are bluffing,” he said. “I do not think you _have_ any of the Kursed with you. The means to make them was lost with Malekith. With your _Aether._ Am I wrong?” 

“You were one of the last to see the Aether before it disappeared,” the Elf hissed. “You know where it is.”

“Do I,” Loki said coolly. The Elf stared at him for a long moment before turning and yanking Loki forward.

“This is not over,” he said. “The Aether is ours by right. We will have it returned.”

Steve felt a spur of unease. It would be too easy, he thought, for them to get caught in a tug-of-war, if they didn’t step carefully – the kind of tug of war that could get them both torn in half. He wished he dared tell Loki to be careful, but they couldn’t risk breaking character. He kept a close eye on Loki and was faintly relieved when they reached their cell and pushed both of them in. He’d half expected they’d hold on to Loki for further questioning. 

Steve managed to keep his footing until the door ground closed, and then sank to the floor with some relief. His legs felt dangerously wobbly. “Loki,” he started to say, “I’m sorr-”

“Don’t scold me,” Loki said, a little too loudly, and Steve started and stared at him. Loki’s eyes flicked toward a corner and though there wasn’t anything there, he understood the gesture. They had to assume they were being watched. “I know it was careless. I do not need reminding of that.”

“I wasn’t going to _scold,_ ” Steve said. How could they be most convincing? “But I still think our best bet is to try to make some kind of deal. 

“Deal,” Loki said, voice giving the word a scornful twist. “With Njörd. That puissant son of-”

“Yes, with him,” Steve interrupted, though he was half tempted to see how much creative invective Loki could come up with, given time. “We know he wants to save Asgard-”

“He says,” Loki said. “Besides, he wouldn’t be capable. At best he would burn himself to ash trying. At worst, burn a great deal more than that. Besides – do you really think he would make a deal with _me_?” 

“Maybe not, but he might with me,” Steve said. “He’s been trying to. If I said I’d tell him if he lets us both go…”

“He will not. Not now. He already hated me – now you have humiliated him as well.”

“Then do you have any _suggestions?_ ” Steve asked, and he didn’t have to strain for frustration. “Rather than just telling me what _won’t_ work?”

“Perhaps,” Loki said. His eyes slid toward the door. “Njörd isn’t the only one who wants something.”

It was astonishing, Steve thought, just how well Loki could lie. If he didn’t know better – and part of him wasn’t sure he _did_ – he would’ve believed every word Loki was saying. “Didn’t you almost die for the sake of keeping that thing away from them?”

“Faked my death,” Loki said casually. “Times change. Malekith is gone. Perhaps their next leader will not be so…nihilistic.” 

“You’re going to hang the fate of the universe on a _perhaps_?” Steve said. Loki’s expression hardened.

“I would hang the universe on a great deal less if it meant saving your life,” he said. He sounded completely sincere, and Steve stared at him, stomach giving an uneasy twist. Did he mean that, or was it just part of the performance? 

“I don’t want that,” Steve said. Something flickered across Loki’s face, vaguely unhappy, before it was smoothed away with a twist of his lips. 

“We shall see,” he said, sitting down and leaning back where he was facing where the door would open. 

_I guess we will,_ Steve thought. The die was cast. Now they had to wait and see where it fell. 

And hope they hadn’t miscalculated horribly.

* * *

Steve watched Loki pace and tried not to think about all the dozens of ways things could go wrong. He still felt a little sick and shivery from the poison, but if what Njörd had said about its potency was true, then he’d gotten off lightly. 

He had the warning of Loki’s sudden pause before the door opened a couple seconds later, though he didn’t try to straighten up, just slanted his eyes toward the three Elves who entered.

“You will tell us what you know of the Aether,” the tallest of the three said. There was no mistaking it for a request.

Between one moment and the next Loki’s posture had changed from tense anxiety to relaxed insouciance, his hands clasped behind his back, eyebrows lifted. Steve grimaced to himself, wondering about the wisdom of that approach, but at least for the moment he left it alone. 

“Will I?” 

“Loki,” Steve did say then, quiet warning. Loki glanced at him, the corner of his mouth away from the Elves flickering up in a faint smile. Steve could read the attempt to reassure.

“You will find,” the Elf said, “that the Aesir is kinder than we are.”

Loki spread his hands. “You would have me offer what I do not have?” 

Eyes narrowed. “But you know where it is.” 

“Perhaps. Perhaps not.” Loki cocked his head to the side. “Do you think your... _kindness_ will prove more effective than Njörd’s?” The Elf looked toward Steve. 

“I’m getting really tired of being leverage,” Steve said flatly, at the same time that Loki barked a laugh. 

“No need for that,” he said. “You’re lucky to catch me in a generous mood.” His smile, when he leaned forward, was a dangerous one. “I am willing to give you what you want. _You,_ not your...supposed ally. For a price.”

“Loki,” Steve said loudly, now pushing himself up. “ _No._ ”

“You are in no position to bargain,” the Elf speaking for the others said. 

“Am I not? The longer you wait, the more likely it is that Njörd will turn on you. That he will decide you are expendable, or too dangerous, and he might find better allies elsewhere. So I ask: if I deliver the Aether into your hands, what will you give me?” 

Steve stood, though he had to support himself on the wall. “Don’t do this,” he said. “It’s too dangerous. We won’t,” he started to say to the Elf, but he was interrupted. 

“We are not bargaining with you, human,” he said. To Loki: “how do we know you can deliver on your promise?” 

“I will not ask that you hold up your bargain if I cannot.” Loki’s lips twitched. “So. What price are you willing to pay, for the return of your peoples’ treasure?”

Steve tensed, almost vibrating as they stared at each other. They weren’t going to take it. Or they would, but everything would go wrong anyway. 

“You must know that we will see Asgard purged from the Nine Realms,” the Elf said coldly. “You do not blink at that?” 

“Why should I?” Loki laughed harshly. “I saved Asgard, and it nearly cost me my life. I fought for her for centuries, and she cast me out, nameless and homeless. Asgard can rot.” Even knowing it for a lie, the bitterness and anger in Loki’s voice made Steve’s stomach clench. The words might be a lie, but the feelings, he thought, less so. 

He’d thought that wound more healed than it seemed to be. Or maybe all of this had just ripped it open again.

“We will let your companion go,” the Elf said. “ _Once_ the Aether is ours. But you...you owe us blood.”

“Done,” Loki said, before Steve could open his mouth, and he felt his eyes widen. 

“No,” he said. “ _Not_ done. You can’t do this, Loki.” He hoped they thought he meant the Aether, but with that bargain...what if they killed him the second he told them what they wanted to know? Steve felt a flash of anger for Loki at how quickly he’d agreed, no assurances, not even a second of hesitation.

“Silence him,” the Elf said coldly, but Loki moved smoothly in front of Steve. 

“Ah,” he said. “Let him speak. It matters little. The bargain is between us. Will you swear it?” 

“Tell me where the Aether is.” 

“Not until you swear.” 

The Elf’s lips twisted. “On the primordial darkness that was before light’s corruption,” he said, “I will fulfill the conditions of the bargain, as given. And you?” 

“On my father’s blood,” Loki said, “I will give you all I know of the Aether’s place.” He paused. “But I cannot simply tell you.”

The Elf narrowed his eyes. “You break your bargain so quickly?” 

“Not at all,” Loki said. “Simply state what must be done, if you want the Aether in your hands. You will need my magic to take you where you need to go.”

Steve kept his eyes fixed on Loki’s back. He could feel the Elf studying them both, expression calm - but there was eagerness there, too. After a long moment, he turned to the left and said something to one of his companions, who turned and left in a hurry. 

“Where,” he said coldly. Loki just smiled faintly.

“Do not think I make the mistake of trusting you. But I suggest you move quickly. Njörd may notice something amiss.”

The Elf’s lip curled. “Let us worry about Njörd. I hear that those of Asgard hew to their oaths. Does that count for one who only wears an Aesir skin?” 

“It does.” Steve had not missed Loki’s careful phrasing, though. _All I know._ He would have wagered anything that Loki knew nothing, or almost nothing. 

“Then we will loose your collar when it is time,” the Elf said. “And after, when the Aether is ours, we will release your companion and wash the Aesir corruption from it with your blood.”

Steve’s stomach twisted into knots. _I hope you know what you’re doing, Loki,_ he thought. _And if you try some idiot move…_

_I’m not letting you make me leave you behind again._

* * *

He and Loki were separated, of course, as the Elves marched them down the hall. It was a group of about ten or so, and Steve could feel their barely restrained eagerness. He kept a close watch on both them and on Loki. There would be an opportunity. He just had to watch for it. 

“Where are we going?” He asked one of his guard, but they just looked at him and didn’t answer. He sighed, eyes returning to Loki’s back. They needed to get the collar off. Either that would break the spell keeping them from getting close to each other, or Loki would break it once he had his magic back. Then he could take them away from here and back home. As soon as the Elves took the collar off, they could move. 

Steve almost ran into the Elf in front of him, distracted enough that he hadn’t noticed that they’d stopped. 

“Trouble?” Loki’s voice was smooth, but Steve could hear a thread of tension in it. 

“It would seem so,” Njörd said. 

Steve felt a chill down his spine and held very still. Around them, the Dark Elves were silent.

“What is this?” Njörd’s cold voice was clear, and Steve could just make out his reddish hair in front of him, a bared sword in his hand. “I don’t recall asking for the prisoners.”

“You did not,” said the leader, voice equally cold. 

“Explain.”

“It is our business,” the Elf said. “And we do not answer to you, as servants. You will not speak to us as such. Your attempts have shown no results. We grow tired of waiting, and you have shown how quickly you forget your promises.”

“Forget _my-_ ” Njörd cut off. “I drew you from chaos. I offered you alliance . I have been _generous._ These prisoners are mine-”

“We agreed to no such provision.” 

This could be good, Steve thought. Or it could be very, very bad. 

Njörd seemed struck dumb, and the leader went on. “Our willingness to tolerate your arrogance is over. You were useful for a time, but we no longer have need for you. If you leave now, we will forget the insult you have given.”

“You swore loyalty to _me,_ ” Njörd hissed. 

“No,” the Elf who seemed to lead said. “We swore nothing.”

Njörd drew himself up. “You _faithless_ curs-”

“As though you did not plan to betray us as the first turn,” a different Elf snapped. “Promises on promises you spoke that you did not mean.”

Njörd sneered. “What is a promise made to an animal?”

“This is your final warning, Aesir,” the Elf said, voice quite a bit harder. “Run now, or we will-”

He didn’t finish the sentence.

“You swore loyalty to _me,_ ” Njörd hissed. 

“No,” the Elf who seemed to lead said. “We swore nothing.”

Loki shifted sideways, twisting. He drew the knife from the Elf next to him and cut his guard’s throat. The corridor burst into chaos. It was too narrow for effective fighting, but that made it better for a brawl. He lost Loki for several seconds, but when he saw him again his hands were free and he was scrabbling at the belt of the Dark Elf leader, who was down with a knife between his shoulder blades. Behind him, another Elf leveled one of those searing projectile weapons at his back. 

Steve lunged, bulling into the Elf and bearing it to the ground. Something burned across the top of his shoulder, but even with his hands still bound Steve could still press his forearm across the Elf’s throat until it went limp. He pushed himself up, looking for something he could use to free his hands. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Loki throwing the collar down - apparently he’d found the key. He flung out his other hand and unleashed a torrent of flame down the hall away from Steve.

He couldn’t help but grin. _We’re going to get out of here._

Something bit deep into Steve’s side and he let out a yell, hot pain immediately welling up - or maybe that was blood. He lurched away and Loki was there, catching him; his hand touched Steve’s bonds and they crumbled. Steve slumped into him, not just for support but because it was the first contact he’d had with Loki in days. 

“We need to go,” Loki said urgently. “Hold onto me, Steve-”

The world flipped, turned inside out with more of a lurch than Steve was used to. They were standing in the starry void between worlds as Steve gulped for air, hand pressed to his side. He looked to Loki and found that his head was bowed, his breathing strained and irregular.

“You’re hurt,” Steve said stupidly. Blood was leaking through his fingers.

“It isn’t so bad.” Loki shifted, supporting Steve, but gasped with the movement. He swayed and for a moment Steve felt the path under his feet - waver. 

“Loki,” Steve said sharply. “We need to leave, I don’t think you can hold us here.” 

Loki nodded. He took a step forward, pulling Steve with him, and the world inverted again. Steve tripped on nothing and fell heavily to his knees, dragging Loki down with him onto familiar carpeting. 

“Our apartment,” Steve said, vaguely startled that it seemed still unoccupied, their furnishings all in place. Who was paying the rent? 

“Oh,” Loki said, still bent forward. “That’s...not what I meant to do.” His eyes moved slowly to Steve, and widened. “You’re bleeding.” 

Steve tried to smile. “It isn’t so bad,” he parroted. Loki moved toward him, reaching out to lay his hand over Steve’s, but though his fingers glowed briefly it was only for a moment. 

Loki squeezed his eyes closed. “I can’t…”

There were towels in the bathroom. It seemed a long ways away. His head felt very heavy. “S’fine,” he said. “It’s...you got us out.” 

Loki laughed, quiet but harsh. “Too little, too late,” he murmured. “Bandages...if I could make it to the bathroom maybe I could help.” He straightened slightly with a quiet _oof,_ and Steve inhaled harshly, seeing what Loki’s posture had been hiding: something jutting out of his chest a couple inches, midway down on the left side.

“Loki,” he said, aghast. 

“Oh,” he said, sounding distracted. “Right.” He looked down. “Yes.”

Steve tried to sit up but didn’t get far, distress making it through the lassitude that was making it hard to keep the pressure he knew he needed to. “How...how bad…”

Loki hummed. “I think...it’s through my lung. That’s probably why...why I can’t heal you. Magic trying to keep me alive.” He looked toward the bathroom. “This apartment seemed...much smaller when we were living in it.”

Steve’s eyes burned. “No,” he said hoarsely, as loud as he could make it. “No. It can’t...you won’t…” _End like this._ His fingers were slipping. Loki sank down next to him and pressed his hand over Steve’s; he gasped at the sharper pain though it seemed duller than it should be. 

“Come on, damn you,” he heard Loki murmur. His eyelids felt so heavy. “Let it go, let me do _something-_ ”

Steve moved his other hand to reach for Loki and found his sleeve, taking hold. “Love you,” he murmured. Loki made a soft, pained sound. 

“Steve,” he said, voice far away and fuzzy. “I wish…”

Steve didn’t hear what Loki wished. He faded out to a sound like rushing water in his ears.

* * *

When he was ten, Steve had confronted a gang of bullies taunting Billy Jackson, who had the misfortune of being the youngest black kid on the block. 

He felt about the same now as he had after that fight. 

Keeping his eyes closed, he tried laboriously to sort through what had happened. They’d escaped, but he’d been hurt, and Loki had taken them to their old apartment by accident. He could still feel the throbbing ache in his side, and Loki…

Had Loki managed to heal him, somehow?

Steve’s eyes snapped open as a worse thought occurred to him. Had Loki healed him at some kind of awful cost to _himself?_

“Stay down, soldier,” he heard in a dry and familiar voice. “Drink this. You need to rehydrate.” Someone put a straw to his lips and Steve only hesitated a moment before drinking through it. The Gatorade made him want to wrinkle his nose, but he didn’t stop until the straw was pulled away. Then he turned his head, still baffled.

Natasha half smiled at him. “Hey,” she said. “I’d ask how it’s going but that’s pretty obvious.”

“Nat?” Steve said blankly, and then thought of Loki again, eyes widening in alarm. “Where’s-”

“Loki’s in the living room on the couch,” Natasha said calmly. “Sleeping. Apparently healing a punctured lung takes a lot out of a guy.” Steve slumped back. _Thank god,_ he thought weakly. “And _you,_ ” Natasha said, “since you didn’t ask, are doing just peachy. Well, about as peachy as someone who just bled half to death can be. You’re awfully lucky I got home when I did.” 

Steve frowned. “Home?” 

“Well,” Natasha said. “Sort of.” She glanced away. “Long story. I’m more worried about what happened to _you_ two.”

“Long story,” Steve said wearily. “Nat...where’ve you been? Here? I’ve been trying to get in touch with you…”

“I know. Sorry.” Natasha sighed. “No, I haven’t been here. Not until the last month or so. Before that...I was with Laura. Helping them relocate.” There was no recrimination in her voice, but Steve still wanted to wince. He couldn’t help but feel that when he’d called Clint in he’d put his family on the line. Still...it was a relief to hear that they were safe. That Natasha was looking after them.

“Does Clint know?” He asked. Natasha’s jaw shifted very slightly.

“No,” she said. “I didn’t have a way of getting a message to him I was sure wouldn’t be intercepted. Same with you.”

Steve frowned. “So why come here? Wouldn’t they be watching this place?” 

“Sure,” Natasha said. “But if there’s one place in New York that’d be hard to find and harder to infiltrate - it’d be this one.” When Steve looked at her blankly, she snorted. “Come on, Steve. _Loki_ was living here, and Loki might have me beat for paranoid. _I_ had a devil of a time finding this place and getting in here and I knew what I was looking for.”

“Oh,” Steve said, feeling a little foolish. He’d never thought about it. He paused. “Can I have some more Gatorade?” 

“Sure.” This time she gave him the cup. Steve tried to drink slowly, but the more alert he became the more he was aware of his thirst. And of the pain. He took a few sips and then paused to try to breathe deeply.

“Did you...did you stitch us up?” 

“I didn’t have a doctor to call,” Natasha said after a moment. “Sorry. It’s not the prettiest job, but I’m not a bad hand at stitches.” She glanced toward the doorway to the bedroom. “Your boyfriend was harder, but he was at least coherent enough to help.” She blew out a breath. “There were some touch and go moments for a bit, to be honest with you. But he’s fine now. Breathing clear. Just exhausted.”

“Thank god,” Steve said, this time aloud. 

“Yes, well,” a raspy voice said from the doorway. “Being one is useful sometimes.”

Natasha’s head snapped around at the same time as Steve tried to lift his. “You should be lying down,” she said sharply. “And _resting._ ”

“Are you _fussing_ at me, Romanov?” Loki did look like he was just barely supporting himself on the door, his face pale and drawn. “I got bored of eavesdropping from the other room.”

“I’m not fussing,” Natasha said. “I just don’t want my effort to be wasted.” She pointed at the bed. “At least lie down here if you won’t respect other peoples’ private conversations.” 

“At least I let you know I was listening,” Loki said, and he _must_ have been feeling bad because he limped over to the bed and sat down, giving Steve a weak smile. “Welcome back. You gave me quite a fright.” 

Steve suspected that was an understatement. He summoned a smile back, though, matching Loki’s tone. “Sorry.” Natasha looked like she was going to roll her eyes. Steve turned back toward her. “Other than...looking after Laura. What have you been doing?” 

“Keeping my head down, mostly,” Natasha said. She smiled crookedly. “I’m not exactly the favorite person of many people right now.” 

Loki huffed quietly. “I know the feeling.” 

“I’ve been working with Sharon, some,” she said after a moment’s pause and a quick look at Steve. “Looking at some...unfinished business.” 

Steve felt a small bubble of relief. “That’s good,” he said. “I’m...glad you’re not totally on your own.” Loki appeared to give up on trying to look steady and laid down, his head canted against Steve’s shoulder, eyes closed. Steve glanced a little self-consciously at Natasha, but her expression didn’t give anything away. 

“So now your turn. Do I get to know how the hell you end up going from Wakanda to bleeding out in your old apartment in New York?” She hesitated. “Is everyone else-”

“They’re all fine,” Steve said quickly. “It was just...me and Loki.”

“Njörd,” Loki said, not opening his eyes. “You remember him, yes? It seems he carries a grudge. He allied with the Svartalfar and took Steve and I captive.”

Natasha blinked. “Svartalfar - that’s the Dark Elves, right? I thought they were Asgard’s enemies, and whatever else he is Njörd seemed like a nationalist.”

“He thought to double-cross them,” Loki said flatly. “A deal with the devil seemingly worth making in pursuit of his goal.” 

Natasha’s eyes narrowed. “I’m guessing that wasn’t just revenge.”

“No,” Loki said. “It was not.” He took a shallow breath. “It seems that Asgard has fallen. To an unknown enemy. It is...cut off, by some means I do not know - inaccessible even from the shadowpaths.”

Natasha paled a little. “That...doesn’t sound good.” 

“It is not.” Loki’s mouth was set in a grim line. “Njörd sought to...extract the knowledge of the Infinity Stones from me, and their location, presumably so that he could return to Asgard as a liberating hero. Steve...apparently his name is being whispered in the wider universe, with reward promised for his delivery. I do not know who is behind that, either.” Loki bit his lip, very briefly; a small nervous gesture Steve had never seen him make before. “There are too many unknowns. I do not even know if Njörd is still alive - he and the Svartalfar turned on each other, which was when we managed to slip away.”

Exhaling harshly, Natasha stood from where she was sitting on the edge of the bed and paced a few steps. “This _really_ doesn’t sound good.” 

“No,” Loki said. “I imagine not. I do not know if...this may be the Mad Titan’s first move. Or it may be...someone else. Perhaps someone else working at his behest.” 

“And any word of Thor?” Natasha asked. Loki fell quiet. 

“No,” Steve said after a brief silence. “Nothing.”

Natasha nodded slowly. “And there’s...no way to get a message through, I’m guessing.”

Loki closed his eyes. “None that I can find,” he said, his voice quiet. Natasha looked at him for a moment, and then at Steve. 

“I guess all we can do right now is wait,” she said. “And hope that whatever’s going on...they find a way to get a message to us.”

“Hope,” Loki said. Maybe agreement, but he didn’t sound optimistic. Steve reached out without thinking to squeeze Loki’s arm. Loki just closed his eyes, visibly flagging. 

“Go to sleep,” Steve told him. “I can answer any other questions Nat has just fine.” 

“I don’t need to,” Loki mumbled, opening his eyes and making to sit up. Steve raised his eyebrows, and he huffed. “Stop that,” he said, but he settled back down.

Natasha seemed to be thinking. “Even if Njörd did get away,” Steve said, “he doesn’t know anything. We made sure of that.” Natasha nodded slowly, but she still seemed distracted. “What is it?” 

“Just thinking,” Natasha said. “I wonder if this could’ve been averted if we’d talked Thor into staying on Asgard. The instability there…I saw it, but I thought maybe it was for the best, that if Asgard was off balance maybe they’d keep their noses out of our business.” She sighed. “Stupid mistake. And now Thor’s…in trouble.” 

“Thor’s tough,” Steve said stoutly. “He’ll make it through.” 

Natasha glanced at Loki. “I’m sure he will,” she said, but she didn’t sound like she believed it.

Loki’s head rested heavily on his shoulder, but Steve couldn’t quite move him off, even if it made him a little self-conscious with Natasha looking at him. At them. He’d never quite been able to pin down what she thought about Loki. 

“Are _you_ all right?” He asked carefully. “I don’t guess you’re very popular with the government right now.”

“Not really, no.” Natasha shrugged one shoulder. “I’m fine. I’ve been in worse situations, and no one hunting me is good enough to come close.” She smiled crookedly. “You forget that I’m used to working on my own. Being part of a public team was an anomaly.”

“That doesn’t make it easy,” Steve said softly. Natasha shook her head.

“Don’t worry about me, Steve. I can take care of myself. It’s _you_ who looks like you need help with that.”

Steve met her eyes evenly. “I have backup. What are you going to do if you get in trouble?” 

“Get out of it.” 

“Natasha…” Steve looked down at Loki. “You could come back with us. To Wakanda. Loki can bring us all there, and I _know_ the team would be happy to see you. Clint especially, but Sam and Wanda miss you too.”

Natasha raised her eyebrows. “How do you think T’Challa would feel about inviting the woman who tased him into his country?”

“He let Bucky in,” Steve said. “I don’t think he’s going to hold it against you.”

Natasha looked at him for a long moment, her expression impossible to read. “I’d like to,” she said finally. “And maybe I will. Probably I will.”

“But?” Steve prompted. 

“But I can’t. Not yet.” Natasha’s eyebrows were furrowed. “I’ve got business to take care of, still. On my own,” she added, when Steve opened his mouth. “In this particular work, Steve, you wouldn’t be much help. When that’s done with...maybe then I’ll come join you.” 

Steve nodded slowly, but he didn’t try to mask his disappointment. He could have argued, but he doubted there would be any use. 

He hesitated. Glancing at Loki to be sure he was still sound asleep, he asked, “have you heard from Tony?” 

Natasha walked over to the window. “Once or twice, yeah,” she said after a pause. “He’s tried to get in touch with me. I don’t know why, I haven’t answered. Not because I don’t want to,” she added. “For the same reason I haven’t reached out to anyone else. He’s being watched. He’s walking a thin line between obedience and defiance.” She turned around. “I take it you haven’t had any contact?” 

Steve felt his expression turn mulish. “He tried to kill Bucky, Nat. He threw Loki to the wolves; Ross would’ve torn him to shreds if he’d gotten the chance. They treated Wanda like a damn animal. You didn’t hear what he said about them both, about _Wanda._ And he hasn’t apologized for _any_ of it.”

“Neither of you is very good at admitting when you’re wrong,” Natasha said. Steve opened his mouth, and she held up her hands. “I’m not saying that the fault’s necessarily equal, or that you don’t have the right to be angry. I think you already know where you screwed up. But fact is there’s a threat on the horizon that’s too big for us to deal with apart. Sooner or later we’ll have to come together to face that.”

“I didn’t say I wouldn’t work with him,” Steve said. “Just that I’m not in a big hurry to reach out until Tony gives some indication that he feels any guilt about what he did.” His voice rose slightly at the end, and Loki moved, shifting. Steve froze, but he didn’t wake. 

Natasha heaved a sigh. “I’d bet he does,” she said quietly. “But he’s shit at admitting it.” She shook her head. “I’m not here to tell you what to do. I’m sorry I can’t come back with you, Steve. I really am.” She turned away. “You should sleep.”

“Natasha,” Steve said, before she could walk away. “Thanks. For helping me. Us.” 

“What are friends for?” Her smile looked faintly melancholy. “Take care of yourself, Steve. You should find a proper doctor – I’ve done everything I can, but you should still probably have a professional take a look. At both of you.” She paused. “I hope I’ll see you soon.”

* * *

Steve expected it, but he still felt a pang when they woke up in the apartment with just the two of them, Natasha already vanished – probably gone as soon as he’d fallen asleep. 

“We can’t stay here,” Loki said. He still looked pale and wrung out, but his voice was steady and so were his hands checking Steve’s bandages. “Who knows if there are alarms that have already been triggered? Or if Romanov-”

“She won’t tell anyone,” Steve said emphatically. Loki glanced at him looking like he might disagree, but after a moment nodded slowly. 

“You know her better than I. But I still do not think we should stay.” 

Steve took Loki’s wrist. “Are you okay to travel?” 

“Yes,” Loki said, and though Steve frowned at him his expression didn’t waver, and Steve knew he was right. And it wasn’t like they could just charter a plane without attracting notice and taking more time than they might have. Natasha seemed to think the apartment was hidden, but Steve didn’t want to take chances.

He accepted Loki’s help to his feet, his own knees still weak. This time he closed his eyes while Loki worked his magic and took them back to Wakanda. 

He staggered a bit on the landing, but steadied himself quickly. Steve leaned on the railing for the brief rush of dizziness. They were standing on the balcony of their rooms, currently dark. Loki opened the sliding door and they stepped inside, the motion sensing lights clicking on. 

“Are they gonna know we’re back or do you have magic keeping people from seeing in here?” Steve asked. Loki raised weary eyebrows. 

“What do you think?” He asked. “But I can suspend that for the moment. I would rather not...go looking.” His fingers moved in a small, complicated gesture, though Steve didn’t miss how one of his hands went briefly to his chest like he felt a twinge there. 

“You okay?” Steve asked. 

“I have been better,” Loki said with a crooked smile. “But then, so have you.”

“Fair enough,” Steve said, and leaned back with a bit of a groan. His muscles were still locked up even though the wound itself was mostly healed. 

Only a moment later he jerked painfully upright when the door burst open and Bucky barrelled through, a gun in one hand, only to jerk to a halt as he looked wildly back and forth between Loki and Steve. 

“Well,” Loki murmured, “this is quite a welcome.”

“Hey, Buck,” Steve said, raising a hand for a small wave. “Good to see you.”

Bucky wavered, looking dumbstruck. The gun dropped to his side, though. “Steve?” He said, sounding a little shaky, and Steve felt a pang of guilt, even knowing it wasn’t his fault. He offered a half-hearted smile and Bucky exhaled sharply. “Jesus,” he said, and lurched forward, just stopping before pulling Steve up and looking from him to Loki and back. “Are you all right?” 

“More or less,” Steve said. “Just a little sore.”

“You look like hell,” Bucky said bluntly. “Both of you.”

“I expect so,” Loki said. Steve noticed he was leaning on the back of the chair and frowned at him to sit down, but Loki didn’t seem to take the hint. “Being taken prisoner and held for...how long has it been? will do that to you.”

“Who was it?” Bucky demanded, a sudden savage edge on his voice. “Was it Ross?”

“No,” Steve said. “Someone considerably further from home.”

“Oh, thank _god,_ ” said Sam’s voice from the door, and Steve looked over. His relieved smile lit up his exhausted face. “Steve. Loki. You have no idea how good it is to see you.”

“Probably about as good as it is to be here,” Steve said honestly. 

“Nobody knew what the hell had happened,” Bucky said. “There was some kind of commotion and by the time anyone got here - you were both gone. It’s been _two weeks._ I was about ready to kidnap Ross and shake him down for whatever he knew-”

“Which would have been useless,” Loki said. “This was - rather bigger than him. And I fear a sign of greater still beginning to move.” He closed his eyes for a moment and Steve leaned forward worriedly, but Sam had already noticed. 

“Sit down,” he said. “You look like you’re going to keel over.”

“I will not,” Loki said, but he sat down, and Steve eyed the hand that was pressed to his ribs with some worry. 

“Asgard’s been attacked,” Steve filled in. “Njörd - some noble, the one who was attempting some kind of coup - was the one who took us.” Sam’s eyebrows drew together, and before he could ask, Steve said, “no word of Thor.” Out of the corner of his eye, Steve caught Loki’s very slight flinch.

Sam looked back and forth between them. “Maybe the debrief should wait,” he said. “You both look pretty beat, we should get you to medical.”

Bucky still looked like he didn’t want to take his eyes off either of them in case they vanished. “Sam’s right,” he said. “Actually - stay here, he’ll get medical to you.” 

“Did you just volunteer me?” Sam asked. Bucky’s lips twitched very slightly, and Sam shook his head. “Fine, fine. Just for the sake of your separation anxiety.” He turned toward the door. “The others will know by now, they’ll be heading this way. Should I tell them to hold off?” 

Steve felt horribly selfish, but he was also starting to feel a little overwhelmed, head pulsing with the beginnings of a headache. “Yeah,” he said. “Thanks. Just for a little while. But tell them we’re fine.”

“Twice, if I have to,” Sam said, and stepped out. Steve glanced toward Loki again and found his eyes half closed. Bucky exhaled loudly, though he seemed to have noticed Loki drifting as well. 

“Hey,” he said, a little bit of an edge creeping into his voice. “You all right?” 

“More or less,” Loki said, opening one eye. “Tired. Healing from an arrow through one’s lung will do that to you.” Bucky blinked and Loki closed his eye again. He turned to Steve, looking a little incredulous. 

“He’s fine,” Steve said. “We’re both fine.” And Buck didn’t need to know how close they’d been to _not._ “I’m...glad you didn’t do anything, uh…”

“Stupid?” Bucky said. Steve smiled weakly.

“I was going to say ‘reckless’, but all right.” 

“That’s mostly down to Sam,” Bucky said bluntly. “I was pretty sure they’d taken you to some black box site and-” He stopped, inhaled. “And now I find out it was _aliens._ ”

“Unfortunately,” Loki murmured, “it seems Steve has made a name for himself.”

Bucky glared at Steve like it was his fault. “Great. That’s great. How did you manage to piss off a bunch of aliens?”

“Helping me probably didn’t do much for his intergalactic reputation,” Loki said. His eyes were still closed. “But I suspect this is something else. Someone may have learned something about your fate. I wonder.” Steve looked sharply at Loki, but his eyes were still closed, his head leaning back. 

“I knew it!” Wanda was standing in the doorway, Pietro hovering just behind her and scowling in direct contrast with her beaming smile. “I _told_ you I felt something.” That was directed at her brother. Oddly enough, Bucky was scowling too. 

“Didn’t you see Sam?” He said. “They need a doctor, not more people barging in-”

“It’s fine,” Steve said. He gave Wanda a weary smile. “You were right. We’re back.”

Wanda swooped over and gave him a kiss on the cheek, and then turned toward Loki, who looked on the point of either passing out or going to sleep. Steve realized abruptly that he’d gone and used magic while he was probably still healing – healing that had already taken most of his energy. Wanda was frowning too, like she had the same thought. 

“I would rather you didn’t hug me just now, witchling,” Loki said, though, and his voice was dry and perfectly himself. “My chest aches enough without your help.” 

Wanda looked a touch embarrassed. “Oh,” she said. “I didn’t mean to – you’re tired, of course-”

“It’s fine,” Steve said, trying to sound reassuring, but he was fairly certain he just ended up sounding tired. “Don’t worry, Wanda. I’m glad to see you, too. And so is Loki,” he ventured to add. Loki’s smile was faint, but it was a smile. 

Sam came back, then, followed by a doctor, Scott and Clint close on her heels. He’d need to remember to tell Clint about Natasha – and about his family. He’d need to…

Steve was flagging fast. “Everybody out,” the doctor said after taking one look at him. “You can come back later. I need space, and by the looks of them we’re going to have to move to a hospital anyway.” Steve let the words wash over him, ignoring Bucky’s attempts to argue, and looked toward Loki. He looked like he’d given up on pretending to be awake, but Steve could still see the rise and fall of his chest. 

They’d gotten out, he thought. Back among friends. 

It was okay to rest now. 

* * *

Steve woke up slowly, drifting back into consciousness. His head felt a little clearer, a little less exhausted, and if he still felt a little chilled, the heavy blankets on top of him helped with that. 

His mouth was _painfully_ dry, though. He heard himself make a little “nuh” noise and licked his lips.

“Water?” Loki said, and Steve felt a rush of relief, opening his eyes. Some part of him had half thought...well, he was relieved.

“Yeah,” he croaked, opening his eyes and giving Loki a little smile. “Aren’t you a sight for sore eyes.” 

Loki’s lips quirked at one corner and he held out a glass of water. Steve took it and gulped almost all of it in a few swallows before managing to slow down. He studied Loki’s face: he still looked pale and tired, but he was steady on his feet. “You slept almost a full day,” he said. “I guess you needed it.”

Steve grimaced, but he had to nod. He _did_ feel better. “Were you resting, too?”

“I woke a couple of hours ago,” Loki said. “I chased James out. At least Wilson had the sense to go to sleep when the healers said you were fine.”

Steve doubted Loki would have, either, but he refrained diplomatically from saying so, pushing himself up to an upright position. He probably could have stood, but it still felt good to be on a proper bed. 

“I hope you let them take a look at you.”

Loki’s nose wrinkled a fraction. “I allowed it.” Steve took that as ‘was bullied into it,’ but he nodded. 

“Good.” He dropped his head back against the pillows and took a deep breath. “It’s over. Unless-” He felt his stomach tighten. “Do you think they’ll come back? Target us again?” 

Loki shook his head after a moment. “I doubt it. Even if Njörd survived, he has been weakened, and lost his allies. And the Svartalfar...they are too few, I think, to want to risk another assault after this failed.” His lips thinned. “Besides, now that I know they are still a threat...I can ward against them. We will not be surprised again.”

Steve nodded, relieved. “So at least we don’t have to worry about _that._ ” His emphasis made Loki laugh, short and soft. 

“That _is_ a relief. I daresay we have enough.” Loki looked down at his hands. The left one in particular. “We lost our rings.”

“We can get new ones,” Steve said. His own ring finger did feel uncomfortably bare. He didn’t look forward to asking T’Challa – he wouldn’t be happy to hear they’d lost any vibranium, no matter how small the amount – but he thought he could probably talk him around. “Rings are replaceable.” 

Loki smiled faintly, though it didn’t quite ease the worry in his eyes as he glanced at Steve. “Certainly more easily than you are.” 

_Or you._ “That’s true,” Steve said, and paused. “And what about Asgard?” Loki sighed, looking out the window at the Wakandan jungle. 

“I don’t know,” he said. “But it still stands. Or still stood. If Njörd wanted it back…then something must be left.” His voice hardened. “I will not believe that Thor is – dead. Not Thor.” 

“We’ll find a way to get to him,” Steve said. “We’ll find a way to help Thor, whatever’s going on.” 

Loki’s laugh was strained. “No doubt by then he will have fought and won the entire battle on his own, and have no need of us.” 

“No doubt,” Steve said quietly. Loki dropped his head, and when he turned his expression had a tinge of desperation. “Come here,” he said, and Loki moved back to him. Steve stood and pulled Loki close, some part of _him_ soothed by being able to do so. 

The problem of Asgard loomed on the horizon, stormclouds that Steve had a feeling were only going to get larger. 

They’d face it when it came. For now he just needed a few minutes to breathe. A few hours.

However long they got.


End file.
